DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle men's soccer team erupted for five goals on Thursday and earned their third conference win of the year with a 5-1 defeat of Warner at the Embry-Riddle Soccer Stadium. The game was relatively even in terms of scoring chances created with Embry-Riddle holding a 14-13 edge in shots and an 8-5 advantage in shots on goal, but it was the Eagles who made the most of their opportunities, improving to 3-7-1 overall and 3-2-1 in league play, while the Royals are just behind the Eagles at seventh in The Sun Conference standings at 4-8 overall and 2-5 in the conference.
The Eagles scored one of the quickest goals in program history on Thursday as it took just 27 seconds for them to find the back of the net.
Nicklas Petersson received the ball on the right side of the field and had just enough pace to out-run his defender. Petersson delivered a low cross into the box where
Marcus Starke used the outside of his right foot to tap the ball past Warner netminder Joseph Lasala, for a quick 1-0 lead.
Eagle goalkeeper
Nils Carlson made kick save on a Warner breakaway in the 11th minute, but he wasn't able to stop the Royals' attempt four minutes later when Diego de la Fuente raced through the midfield before slipping a shot past Carlson to make the score 1-1.
After a couple of chances by the Royals, the Eagles reclaimed the lead off the boot of
Veit Couturier in the 23rd minute. The play started on the left side of the midfield where the ball was delivered to
Sam Fairhurst. Fairhurst took advantage of being unmarked and took a couple of touches before playing Couturier in behind the defense and Couturier finished the play with his ninth goal of the year to make the 2-1 in favor of the Blue and Gold.
Less than two minutes later,
Ally MacDonald collected the ball about 40 yards outside the box. After evading one defender, he held the ball just long enough for his teammates to catch up. Fairhurst was the first player to make a run into the box. MacDonald lifted a perfectly weighted ball into his teammate's path and Fairhurst lunged and volleyed the ball over Lasala's head to extend the Eagle lead to 3-1, which they took into the locker room at the halftime break.
The second half saw the Blue and Gold continue to pressure the Warner defense and found the back of the net twice in the first seven minutes, but the referee disallowed both goals, keeping the score at 3-1.
Putting those setbacks behind them, the Eagles were finally able to add to their tally as Couturier drilled a screamer from about 35 yards away past substitute goalkeeper Kyle Coleman to make the score.
Erik Norburg added the exclamation point six minutes later after latching on to a ball that the Royals failed to clear following an Eagle corner kick and the junior was able to bend a shot around the Warner defense for his first goal of 2012.
Carlson finished with four saves on the night, while Lasala, who left the game in the second with an injury, collected three saves and Coleman finished with one.
The Eagles will be back in action on Sunday when they travel to Babson Park to take on Webber International. Game time is slated for 4 p.m.
