Sept. 5, 2009

Box Score

Davidson, N.C. - Nick Buxton scored two goals, the second with under a minute to play in regulation and with the Spartans playing two men down, and Pat Regna tied a career high with nine saves, but Davidson scored with 5:29 to play in the second overtime period to take a 3-2 victory over a gutsy USC Upstate men's soccer team at Alumni Soccer Stadium Saturday night.

USC Upstate played with a man down for most of the second half and two men down for the final 10 minutes of regulation and all of the overtime action, spelling the difference in the game.

"The character of the guys who were left on the field was very good," said Upstate head coach Greg Hooks. "We can take that away from tonight's game. They showed tremendous character in the way they fought and stayed composed. Pat and Nick played very well tonight. Those two kept us in the game. The most disappointing of it all is that we are not getting enough of a threat from our strikers. We need to see the most improvement out of that area as we move forward."

Upstate fell to 0-2-0 on the year and will return to action Friday, Sept. 11, against cross town rival Wofford at County University Soccer Stadium. Davidson claimed the win in its season opener and improved to 1-0-0.

Upstate struck first in the game, scoring in the second minute on a free kick after a Davidson foul. Timo Foerster took the free kick and played the ball into the box where Nick Buxton placed a header in the top left corner of the goal to give the Spartans a 1-0 lead. The goal was the first of the season for Buxton, though he did score Upstate's lone goal in the exhibition game at Clemson two weeks ago.

Davidson tied the game with less than 10 minutes to play before halftime. Alex Caskey got behind the defense and fired a shot on goal, but Upstate's Pat Regna made a tremendous save to keep the ball out of the net. However, Regna's save came right back to Caskey who put the shot away from point blank range in the open net to get Davidson even with Upstate, 1-1, in the 27th minute.

Upstate suffered a setback less than two minutes into the second half when John Kadane was whistled for a foul and a second yellow card which resulted in an automatic red card, leaving the Spartans to play a man down for the rest of the game. Despite the disadvantage, Upstate continued to battle and held off Davidson until the 71st minute.

Yannick Pilgrim started things off by playing a pass to Peter Paras on the right corner of the box. Paras lifted a shot across the box. Regna got a piece of the ball, but the shot was solid enough to glance off Regna's hand and into the upper left 90 to give the Wildcats a 2-1 lead.

Upstate dodged a bullet in the 79th minute when Kareem Richardson was issued a red card after fouling a Davidson player in the box. Charlie Reiter's penalty kick went wide of the target, leaving Upstate just a goal down heading into the final 10 minutes of regulation. However, the Spartans were faced with finishing the game with just nine players on the field.

With the game clock moving under a minute to play in regulation, Buxton came through for Upstate to tie the game and send it into overtime. The Spartans counterattacked in a last-ditch effort to tie the game. It worked as Foerster took a free kick and served the ball into the box where Buxton notched his second goal off a header in the 90th minute of play.

After a scoreless first overtime period, Davidson won the game in the 105th minute of play. Mark Millard took a shot that was saved and deflected by Regna. Playing two men down, Upstate was unable to clear the rebound and the ball was passed around the box before Reiter scored from just outside the 6-yard box to give the Wildcats the win.

Despite giving up three goals in the game, Regna was simply outstanding. He made several diving saves to keep Upstate in the match and notched nine for the game. He faced 33 Davidson shots, 12 of which were placed on goal. Upstate recorded 10 shots in the contest, placing three on goal.

"Pat really played well in goal and made five or six really good saves to keep us in the game," said Hooks.