DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle men's soccer team defeated the Spring Hill Badgers 4-2 in a hard-fought battle on Friday. The Eagles improve to 3-9-3 overall and the Badgers fall to 2-13-1.
"The team showed great strength of character to come from behind twice," said Head Coach Dave Gregson. "We thoroughly deserved to celebrate this victory."
Daniel Gylfason scored his third goal of the season while
Felix Moller scored his sixth.
Christian Mather and
Ross Dickinson each earned their first goal of their Embry-Riddle careers.
Richard Dearle served as the goalkeeper for the Eagles tallying two saves.
Spring Hill took the lead early, scoring in the seventh minute. Embry-Riddle answered with a goal of their own in the 41
st minute when
Knutur Bjornsson passed across the face of goal to Gylfason who fired the ball in the net to bring about a 1-1 tie at the end of the first half.
Spring Hill recaptured the lead early in the second half after Donte Oliver beat out Eagle defenders and scored into the far side of the net.
In the 62
nd minute the Eagles tied the game again when Moller passed the ball high into the air to Dickinson who scored on a beautiful header to beat SHC goalkeeper Otto Candies.
The Eagles kept a strong morale and scored again in the 68
th minute with a long-distance shot by Mather. ERAU built its lead to two in the 80
th minute after Moller twisted through Badger defenders opening himself up for an easy shot past Candies.
"It was heartening to see a squad with a few key pieces missing respond with such a positive attacking mentality," continued Gregson. "It was fun to watch the passion and energy that the team had tonight."
Both teams played the last ten minutes down a player due to double red cards, but Embry-Riddle prevented any additional SHC goals, ending the game in a 4-2 victory.
The Embry-Riddle Invitational continues tomorrow with a match between Auburn Montgomery and Spring Hill at 4 p.m. and a match between Embry-Riddle and Emmanuel at 6:30 p.m. at the Embry-Riddle Soccer Stadium.
