GAMEDAY CENTRAL
(RV) Embry-Riddle (4-1, 2-0) at St. Thomas (1-4 ,0-2)
DATE: Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2013
CITY: Miami Gardens, Fla.
SITE: Bobcat Field
START: 4 p.m.
LIVE STATS: Stretch Internet
EMBRY-RIDDLE'S LAST 5 GAMES: 4-1
EMBRY-RIDDLE'S LAST 10 GAMES: 7-3
EMBRY-RIDDLE ON THE ROAD IN 2013: 2-0
ST. THOMAS AT HOME IN 2013: 1-2
AT A GLANCE
The Eagles will make the trek south to Miami Gardens for the start of a two game road trip, concluding with a Saturday match against Florida Memorial. Embry-Riddle is sitting at 2-0 in league play while the Bobcats, winners of (at least a share) the last three Sun Conference regular season titles, are at 0-2 in the conference.
ABOUT THE BOBCATS
St. Thomas is reeling after dropping its last three games, including the first two league games of the 2013 season. The Bobcats have scored five goals in five games, but have allowed nine scores. STU has outshot its opponent 58-48 overall with a slim 24-23 advantage in shots on goal.
Five separate Bobcats have notched a goal for St. Thomas and Delijan Bergassi has started the last four contests in goal, allowing eight scores in 377 minutes.
THE LAST TIME THEY MET
Sept. 26, 2012 - DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle men's soccer team suffered their second conference loss of the season, falling at home to St. Thomas, 2-1, at the Embry-Riddle Soccer Stadium on towards the end of September. The Loss droped the Eagles to 1-6, 0-2 TSC while the Bobcats improve to 4-2-1, 3-0 in conference play.
The Bobcats got on the scoreboard first when Shardy Sanon flighted a ball into the box. ERAU defender
Alan Vezza rose to head it away, but the ball fell to Olando Lawrence who hit a shot into upper right corner to give the visitors a 1-0 advantage.
With 15:43 left in the half, Petersson collected the ball on the right side and completed a pass to
Veit Couturier who dribbled into the box and slipped the ball past St. Thomas goalkeeper Lyle Howe into the lower right corner to make the score 1-1.
It was a physical first half as both teams worked to create scoring threats. The Eagles attempted three shots, two on net, while the Bobcats fired off five shots, four on net.
Nils Carlson was outstanding, denying three scoring opportunities.
After a missed opportunity by the Eagles, St. Thomas countered and Manuel Andreani got to a free ball just outside the penalty box that had been knocked loose by Carlson leaving an open net. Andreani got a shot off but it was headed off the line by
Luis Velasquez.
In the 87th minute, Lawrence crossed the ball from a few yards outside the penalty box and Jhonathan Rico got his head on the ball, placing it in the lower left corner, just past Carlson for the 2-1 lead.
The Blue and Gold outshot St. Thomas 13-7, including a 10-2 advantage in the second half, however only four of the Eagles shots were on net, while the bobcats managed to get six on goal.
ALL-TIME SERIES
The Eagles own a 18-15-6 advantage in the all-time series, dating back to Oct. 3, 1992. The Bobcats won the first seven matchups, and it wasn't until 1998 that the Eagles finally recorded a win in a 2-1 victory on Sept. 29. From 2003 through 2008 the Blue and Gold won 10 of 11 against the Bobcats, but since then STU has won three times and the two teams have tied three times. The last time ERAU beat the Bobcats was a 1-0 win on Oct. 28, 2008.
OFFENSIVE OUTPUT
In Embry-Riddle's last three contests the team has averaged 4.7 goals per match, including a 7-0 shutout of Johnson & Wales on Saturday. The Blue and Gold's 3.40 goals-per-game average in 2013 is second-best in The Sun Conference, trailing only JWU (3.44). Also worth noting, the Eagle defense ranks second in the league with a 1.20 goals against average.
90 MINUTE MEN
Only two Eagles have played in every minute (450) of Embry-Riddle's matches in 2013: goalkeeper
Nils Carlson and defender
Alan Vezza. Defender
Ally MacDonald has played 424 minutes as a senior while fellow defender
Tobias Gerber has also appeared in 424 minutes of action. Carlson's 3,808 career minutes puts him fifth all-time in Embry-Riddle history.
ONE OF THE ELITE COACHES
Entering his 20th season at the helm of Embry-Riddle Men's Soccer, Dave Gregson ranked 13th in the NAIA on the active winningest coaching list. Gregson's 223-119-25 record through 20 seasons of play gives him a .641 winning percentage.
