MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Thomas University men's soccer team downed Dalton State, 4-2, Friday afternoon at the Faulkner Invitational, for the Night Hawks' first victory of the fall season.
TU improves to 1-2 while Dalton State, which started the season receiving votes in the NAIA Soccer Coaches' Preseason Top 25 Poll, drops to 3-2-1.
DSU got on the board first with a goal in the ninth minute, then Thomas scored three unanswered goals before Dalton State added one more with 30 seconds left in the first half. The Night Hawks tallied the final goal in the 71st minute to take the 4-2 edge.
Thomas outshot Dalton State 15-14 overall, and 9-7 on goal.
Junior
Gavin Rochford-Smith led the offensive attack with five shots, three on goal and two goals scored. Classmate
Rene Rivera scored one goal on two shot attempts and added one assist. Junior
Sam Eyes also attempted two shots, both on goal, and scored once. Rookie
Y'Sef Glass took two shots and tallied a pair of assists. Goalkeeper
Ben Barnes made five saves and allowed a pair of goals in 90 minutes.
TU was on the attack early, with a pair of shots on goal in the first six minutes, but DSU scored on a penalty kick in the 35th minute to take the 1-0 lead.
After three corner kicks, TU capitalized on its fourth attempt as
Jack Chambers sent a cross to the far post then Eyes headed the ball low into the net at 19:14.
Eight minutes later, Glass' through ball to Rochford-Smith led to a one-on-one with the DSU keeper, and the junior gave TU the 2-1 lead.
At 4:22, Glass added another assist to his stat sheet as he passed to Rivera, who scored on a shot to the far post.
With Thomas leading 3-1, Dalton State netted its second goal of the game with 30 seconds left in the first period.
In a physical second half, Dalton State tallied six fouls and a yellow card in the first 27 minutes. Thomas answered with a goal at 18:36, taking the 4-2 lead. Rivera sent a diagonal ball to Rochford-Smith, who finished far post side netting.
Barnes made two saves in the final 16 minutes to secure the TU win.
Thomas will face host Faulkner (Ala.) on Sunday, Sept. 9 at 2 p.m. in Montgomery, Ala., then will play at Tampa (Fla.) Sept. 12, before returning to the TU Soccer Complex Sept. 16 against No. 7 Mobile (Ala.).
