Box Score Game Box in PDF Format
Nashville, Tenn. – Dave Musambi has proven to be a reliable scorer for the USC Upstate men's soccer team this season. On Sunday, he collected his second game-winning goal of the season on a header in the 96th minute to lead the Spartans to a 1-0 overtime victory over Lipscomb in a key A-Sun battle at the Lipscomb Soccer Complex.
It was another crucial win for Upstate as the Spartans are battling for one of six spots in the upcoming A-Sun Tournament which begins in less than three weeks. Upstate picked up its third A-Sun victory of the season, all coming on Sunday afternoons, to improve to 3-2 with nine points in the conference. The Spartans remain in the fourth position for seeding in the A-Sun Tournament. Lipscomb fell to 1-3-1 with four points in the league.
Upstate is 5-7-1 overall this season. With five wins, the Spartans have matched the 2009 and 2011 teams for the most victories since the program moved to Division I in 2007. Upstate's three wins in conference play stands as the most in a season since 2007 as well. Lipscomb is 4-10-1 overall this year. Upstate was previously 0-2-1 in overtime games this season.
In overtime, neither team was able to get anything going for the first five minutes of the period. However, Lipscomb was called for a foul in its own territory and Upstate was awarded a free kick. Matt Flynn (Greenville, S.C.) took the kick and played a cross into the box where Musambi out-jumped his defender and headed the ball into the goal to give the Spartans the hard-fought victory.
"Dave got his head on the ball and, fortunately, it went in," said Upstate head coach Greg Hooks. "It is nice that these guys got a win at the end of the game, instead of being disappointed like we have been for what seems like a million times. We have played a lot of games this season when we have played hard and played well, only to lose in overtime or the last few minutes of the game. It is nice, especially for the players, to finally get the reward for their hard work."
It took Upstate's offense several minutes to get going in the first half. Lipscomb had put together two shots in the first 14:37 before Upstate managed to get a shot off by Musambi (Ottawa, Ontario) in the 16th minute. However, that was the first of three consecutive shots for Upstate, two of which were saved by Lipscomb's John Schnurbusch.
Lipscomb nearly took a 1-0 lead with 1:39 to play in the half when Robbie Johnson took a shot that hit the post. Upstate was able to clear the ball out of its end and the teams went to the half with a 0-0 tie. Upstate took four shots in the half, while Lipscomb took five.
While the teams were fairly even in creating shot opportunities in the first half, the same could not be said in the second half. Lipscomb got off three shots before Upstate took its first of the half, a shot from Taylor Scalera (Dacula, Ga.), which was saved by Schnurbusch in the 75th minute. Dylan Hoop (Hamilton, Ohio) took Upstate's second shot of the period with less than 30 seconds to play in regulation, but it sailed wide of the goal.
Upstate's Dani Alvarado (Leander, Texas) made two saves on Lipscomb shots in the first 17 minutes of the second half. By the end of regulation, Lipscomb held a 12-6 lead in shots for the match. With just one shot in overtime for Upstate, Lipscomb finished the match with a 12-7 lead in shots.
Alvarado earned his fifth shutout of the season. He stands one shutout shy of tying the single season record of six set by Jason McCabe last year.
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