DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle men's soccer team registered perhaps the biggest win of the season on Saturday evening when they toppled 16
th-ranked Thomas in Sun Conference action at the Embry-Riddle Soccer Stadium. The Eagles improved their overall record to 5-8-1 overall and 5-3-1 in league play to close out its 2012 regular season home schedule, while Thomas moves to 12-4 overall and 7-2 in the conference.
The Night Hawks got their offense going early as Rowan Liburd tested ERAU goalkeeper
Nils Carlson with a strike in the fifth minute. The Eagles had their first scoring chance of the night in the ninth minute when
Ally MacDonald was brought down on the line of the 18-yard box. Taking the resulting free kick, MacDonald was able to bend the ball around the Thomas wall, but Night Hawk goalkeeper Andi Hoffer saw the ball at the last minute and managed to get a glove to it to keep the Eagles off the scoreboard.
The next few minutes saw the Eagles pinned in their half as Thomas increased its offensive intensity, outshooting the Eagles 4-0 in a five-minute stretch. After Nathan Would hit the post on back-to-back shot attempts the Night Hawks were able to score when Luke Salmon collected Would's second miss and slotted a shot past Carlson into the far side netting to put the Night Hawks up 1-0.
After absorbing even more offensive pressure in a half that saw the Night Hawks outshoot the Blue and Gold 11-3, the Eagles created some offense of their own. Sam Farihurst, playing in the final home game of his Embry-Riddle career, played a long ball across the field to MacDonald who then combined with
Marcus Starke for the give-and-go on the left side. After outrunning his Thomas defender, MacDonald lifted a cross into the box where
Nicklas Petersson rose above two Night Hawk defenders to pull the Eagles level with his fifth goal of the season.
The ERAU goal came with less than three minutes left in the first frame and neither team was able to creating additional scoring chances, sending the game into the halftime break with a 1-1 tie.
The Eagles' second goal of the night came in the 59th minute through another combination play between MacDonald and Starke on the left side. The play started deep in the Eagles' defensive third when Carlson played the ball out to MacDonald just outside the box. MacDonald passed the ball up the field to Starke and once again continued his run allowing Starke to get the ball back to him. MacDonald sent in his second cross of the night from the left side, but this time his cross found
Veit Couturier who volleyed the ball past Hoffer to put ERAU up 2-1.
With just under 10 minutes remaining, the Eagles added an insurance goal. A series of quick passes led to Fairhurst getting the ball at his feet. Working along the top of the box, Fairhurst drew the Thomas defense in with a few touches before finding an unmarked
Viktor Gudnason who drilled his first shot of the night past Hoffer to seal the Eagle win.
Carlson finished with nine saves on the night, while Hoffer totaled two saves in the Thomas effort.
The Eagles' final opponent of the regular season will be conference opponent Johnson & Wales. The Eagles and the Wildcats were originally scheduled to play earlier in the season, but bad weather forced them to reschedule. The game will be made up next weekend with the exact day and time to be determined. As a result, ERAU's game against Flagler, originally slated for Friday evening, has been cancelled.
