Sept. 14, 2008

Box Score

Rock Hill, S.C. - In a battle between former Atlantic Sun Conference foes, Gardner-Webb notched a goal in the 57th minute and the Bulldogs broke the game open 20 minutes later as Gardner-Webb took a 3-0 victory over USC Upstate in the Wingate Inn Classic hosted by Winthrop Sunday afternoon at the Winthrop University Soccer Complex.

Upstate fell to 1-3-0 on the year, while Gardner-Webb improved to 1-5-0, notching its first win on the season. The win by the Bulldogs was its first against Upstate in the six-game series between the two schools located 30 miles away from each other. Prior to Sunday, the Spartans held a 4-0-1 record against Gardner-Webb. Upstate next takes to the field Friday night at 7:30 against Wofford in the Nike/Wofford Classic.

Upstate and Gardner-Webb battled to a scoreless tie in the first half and it looked as if the trend would continue early in the second. However, Gardner-Webb broke through with a goal in the 57th minute. Miguel Pinson fed Adam Augruso with a through ball and Augruso beat Upstate keeper Jason McCabe one-on-one for the first goal of the game and a 1-0 Bulldog lead.

The goal seemed to take some of the wind out of Upstate's sails and the Bulldogs broke through with two quick goals 20 minutes later to put the game away. Augruso played a cross in front of the goal where Richard Gray took control of the ball and finished the shot from five yards out to give Gardner-Webb a 2-0 lead in the 78th minute. The Bulldogs added to the lead a little over two minutes later when Augruso beat his defender from right to left and fired a shot into the net one-on-one with McCabe to give Gardner-Webb a 3-0 lead.

Augruso was the player of the game, finishing with two goals and an assist to lead Gardner-Webb. Bulldog keeper Dane Geraci went the distance, finishing with the shutout and a save.

Three members of the Upstate soccer team were selected to the Wingate Inn Classic All-Tournament team, announced the tournament organizers. Goalkeeper Patrick Regna, midfielder Timo Foerster and forward Erkan Yildirim were selected to the team.