Temple Terrace, FL – The Webber International men’s soccer team traveled to the west coast of Florida on Saturday evening to battle the Florida College Falcons. The Warriors coming off a tough loss on Wednesday afternoon would bounce back with a road victory against the Falcons with two late second half goals from Jesus Solarbe to bring home the 2-1 victory.
The first half was a hard battle for 45 minutes with both squads recording three shots at goal. Nelu Calcai would take the first opportunity at goal for the Warriors in the third minute and force the Falcons keeper to make his first of three saves of the first half. The Falcons would take the next shot in the 6th minute and Ben Parkinson would record the save for the Warriors. A chance on goal arose for Solarbe in the 13th minute, taking his first of three shots of the game, but this one would be saved, unlike the shots to come later in the match. The rest of the half was physical and well fought from both teams with the Warriors committing nine fould to the Falcons four and leading them into halftime tied 0-0.
The physical play in the first half was foreshadowing for the second half as Dylan Hawleywould pick up a yellow card right out of the halftime gate for the Warriors, setting the tone for another physical half of play. Two more fouls and shots would keep the Warriors on the offensive in the first 10 minutes of the second half, but the defense for the Falcons held up keeping the Warriors out of the scorers column. Just two minutes later the Falcons would break free to end the scoreless match with an assist from James Mwakyonde, Yao Bleoussi would finish it off to give the Falcons the 1-0 advantage in the 58th minute. The Warriors would take three shots and four corner kicks in the following 18 minutes looking to strike back and even up the score. They would finally break through with the goal they had been searching for all match from Solarbe in the 77th minute to even the game at 1-1 with 13 minutes to play. Vitor Andrade would pick up the Warriors second yellow card of the match less than 15 seconds later, looking to stop a quick attack from the Falcons off of kickoff. Two more yellow cards would be handed out, one to each team in the final 10 minutes of play as both teams looked to find the game winning goal as time dwindled away. With two minutes left to play, the Warriors once again found their trusty striker, Solarbe and he tucked away his second goal of the match and the final arrow in the heart of the Falcons to deliver the victory for the Warriors 2-1 in Temple Terrace.
After the match, Head Coach Phillip Maestas Bohn was proud of his guys and how they stuck together throughout the match.
“Really proud of the boys getting the result tonight. We felt good about how the game was going then to concede really was tough. Down a goal with under 15 minutes to play is very difficult to overcome but the boys believed and kept playing and were rewarded. Jesus’s first goal gave us new life then he earned the penalty and scored it to bring it home. These are wins that can build a mentality so we will enjoy this one. Dylan Hawley was our man of the match again tonight. He put in an exceptional shift.”
The Warriors will have a week off until their next match on Saturday, October 5th on the Warrior Grass Field against the Keiser University Seahawks at 2:00 PM in Babson Park, FL.
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