Anel Coralic scored the game winning goal with just over a minute left to play Sunday night.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.—The Embry-Riddle men's soccer team opened up the 2011 season with a thrilling 2-1 victory over Thomas (Ga.) Sunday night at Embry-Riddle Soccer Stadium.
The Eagles (1-0-0) got off to a quick start with an early score on Thomas (0-2-0) in the second minute of the contest. Senior Michael Donald intercepted a ball at midfield from a Nighthawk defender, which engaged the Eagle attack.
Donald utilized his speed and fancy footwork to dribble up the left side of the pitch past two Thomas defenders. He then brought the ball towards the middle of the field where he found freshman Veit Couturier streaking down the right side of the field. Couturier took a crisp pass from Donald and put it past John Bartholomew, the Nighthawk goalkeeper, for his first collegiate goal and the first goal of the season for Embry-Riddle.
Thomas threatened to tie the game in the 30th minute and again in the 36th minute, but Eagle goalkeeper Nils Carlson came up with two huge saves to hold off the Nighthawk attack and take the Eagles into the locker room with a 1-0 advantage.
The match proved to be very physical in the first half with 16 fouls and two cautions issued by referee Dan Provenzano. Both the Eagles and the Nighthawks had eight fouls and one caution each.
Play in the second half went back and forth until the 64th minute of play when the Nighthawks tied up the contest. Rowan Liburd got a through ball just beyond the Eagle defense and flicked it over Carlson, who was charging to make a stop, to tie the game at 1-1.
The Eagles and Nighthawks continued the physical play in the final 20 minutes of the game, with two more yellow cards being issued (one for each team). With 15 minutes left in the game, the Eagles offense began to find its pace again as they rattled off shots that were blocked right in front of the goal.
With just over a minute remaining in the game, Couturier made a run down the left sideline. He used his size to shake off a Nighthawk defender and fired a shot.
The shot was blocked by Bartholomew, but Nicklas Petersson was there to garner the rebound. Petersson took the ball right in front of the goal and unselfishly fed it to Anel Coralic who buried a shot past a diving Bartholomew to put Eagles up 2-1 and the game away in thrilling fashion.
The Eagle men will be back in action on Sept. 2 when they travel to Montgomery, Ala. for the Southern States Athletic/Sun Conference Showdown. The Blue and Gold will take on No. 2 Mobile at 1 p.m. on Friday and Auburn Montgomery at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
