THOMASVILLE, Ga. (Aug. 25, 2018) – The Truett McConnell men's soccer team, who is receiving votes in the NAIA national top 25, traveled to Thomas University for their regular season opener and blanked the Nighthawks 2-0.
Joao Costa, the 2017 Appalachian Athletic Conference player of the year, connected for both of TMU's goals.
PLAY BY PLAY
Almost halfway through the first half at the 24th minute,
Victor Clemente found Costa 18 yards out at the edge of the box for the first goal of the season. Both teams connected for just one more shot apiece before Costa found the back of the net again. Following a Thomas foul with seven minutes left to go in the half, Costa took the free kick enabling the ball to deflect off the defending wall into the far corner of the goal.
Despite a scoreless second half, both teams went head to head. The Nighthawks outshot the Bears 8-2 but TMU's defense was resilient. Junior goalkeeper
Evan Gaffney earned four saves in comparison to Thomas' goalkeeper's three.
COACH'S COMMENTS
"Always nice to start with a win," Head Coach
Rob Miller said. "Especially on the road against a tough team who are usually a national tournament team. We learned a lot about our team today. We saw a lot of positives and the team came together to keep hold of the win at the end. Costa had two great goals and Gaffney came up with a couple of big time saves.
We now have a week to recover before heading to Tennessee for another tough away trip against two very good teams (Life University and Bethel University.) Overall we had a good performance and I am looking forward to seeing how the season is going to pan out," Miller said.
LEADERS
Following Costa was Clemente with two shots while
Edgar Cerano and
Frederico Divino tallied a shot on goal apiece.
UP NEXT
The Bears are back on the road Saturday, Sept. 1, to face Life University at Bethel University (Tenn.) at 5:00 p.m. TMU will then quickly turnaround to face Bethel on Monday, Sept. 3, at 4:00 p.m. Conference play will begin for the Bears on Saturday, Sept. 8, as they take on Bluefield College at the TMU Soccer Complex at 2:30 p.m. before the women who will also face the Rams.
