Sept. 16, 2009

Box Score

Asheville, N.C. - John Kadane and Timo Foerster each scored goals in the first half to lift USC Upstate to a 2-1 victory over UNC Asheville Wednesday afternoon at Greenwood Field, giving the Spartans their first victory of the season.

Upstate improved to 1-3-0 with the win, ending a string of three straight one-goal losses. UNC Asheville fell to 1-4-1 on the year. Upstate travels to High Point Saturday for its second consecutive game against a Big South opponent.

"With the way our program has struggled over the last two years, getting a win is something that we appreciate," said Upstate head coach Greg Hooks. "Except for a couple of brief periods where we made it harder on ourselves than we should have, which is in part due to playing five or six freshmen on the field at the same time, we played hard and together. Hopefully as we continue to mature, we can learn to get results in close games."

Upstate opened a 2-0 lead in the first half, striking early and then notching the second goal after the midway mark of the period. Kadane scored his first collegiate goal in the sixth minute off of a corner kick.

Hakeem King took the corner kicks and played a ball to Nick Buxton in the middle of the box about 15 yards out. Buxton played a one-touch pass to Kadane two yards out and the freshman from Garland, Texas, put the shot away to give Upstate the 1-0 lead.

Upstate added to its advantage in the 26th minute when three Spartans put together a spectacular scoring play. Tim Bailey received a pass down the right sideline and juked his defender to free up space. He moved into the box and played a pass to Erkan Yildirim 13 yards out. With the defense instantly collapsing on him, Yildirim laid off a pass to Timo Foerster 15 yards out in the center of the box and the sophomore from Oberkirk, Germany, hammered a shot in the back of the net to give Upstate a 2-0 lead.

Upstate ended the half with a 2-0 lead. The Spartans outshot UNC Asheville 6-2 for the half and owned a 3-2 advantage in corner kicks.

The game became much more physical in the second half as the teams scratched for every advantage. UNCA pressed the Upstate defense, reversing the trend from the first half. The Bulldogs outshot the Spartans 6-1 in the second half. However, Upstate's defense was able to hold UNCA off the scoreboard until late in the game.

With the clock winding down and UNCA desperately trying to get back in the game, the Bulldogs broke through in the 86th minute. Eli Morrow gained control of a loose ball at the top of the 18-yard box and fired a shot from right to left that hit the left post and bounced into the right side of the goal to get the Bulldogs within one, 2-1.

Upstate was able to maintain possession for the most part the rest of the game, though one final solid defensive play by freshman Porter Massey sealed the win. With UNCA on a counterattack, Massey made a sliding tackle to kick the ball away from a UNCA attacking player and into UNCA territory which all but ended the game. He also kicked the ball out of bounds with less than 15 seconds to play to end any Bulldog threat.

Upstate and UNCA finished the game with eight shots apiece, while the Bulldogs held a 7-6 advantage in corner kicks. Upstate goalkeeper Pat Regna made a diving save in the first half and was all over the box snagging crosses out of the air. He made three saves on the day to lead the Upstate defense.