Box Score SPARTANBURG, S.C. – USC Upstate men's soccer notched two early goals in the first 13 minutes against Big South preseason favorite Campbell University Sunday afternoon, but the No. 20 Camels fought back from their 2-0 deficit to force a 2-2 draw in the match after 110 minutes of play. The Spartans currently sit at 1-2-1 (1-0-1 BSC) on the year.
Pol Monells led the Spartans offensively today with a goal and five shots, two of them on target. Goalkeeper Felipe Baeza made some critical stops and hauled in seven total saves to help Upstate reach the draw. Filippo Censini was aggressive on the attack and created multiple chances for Upstate throughout the match.
"I'm happy but a little disappointed too. I thought the guys absolutely put their hearts on the line. The effort they put in was phenomenal today, so I'm happy to come away with a tie to the top team in our conference. I'm still a little disappointed though because we could have stuck this one away. It's still a good result to tie a team like Campbell," said head coach Scott Halkett.
Paul Bobai had a good offensive chance early for the Spartans, but his shot was deflected from the middle of the box. Upstate would get a corner kick shortly after, but it was cleared out by Campbell.
The offensive opportunities kept coming for the Spartans as Javier Torres cross-passed it to Pol Monells at the 7:21 mark to get Upstate on the board first.
Just a few minutes later, Orion McHugh doubled Upstate's lead as he headed in a corner kick from Mario Arrocha in the 12th minute.
Campbell took a couple corner kicks midway through the half, but couldn't capitalize on any chances until Alemu Mercer-Miko found the back of the net from Jalen James to cut Campbell's deficit in half at the 27:46 mark.
Possession would go back-and-forth the rest of the half as Upstate went into halftime with the 2-1 advantage.
Upstate had another good chance early in the second half as Campbell turned the ball over in the midfield and Bobai carried it down the field, but the Spartans were called offsides.
Arrocha put a free kick on net at 52:04, but shot it right into the Camel keeper. A few minutes later, Campbell created a chance off a corner kick, but the ball was scooped up by Baeza for no damage.
The Camels found the equalizer in the 57th minute as Jamie Lamb headed it in from Franck Momo and Mercer-Miko.
Censini set Arrocha up for a good opportunity in the 61st minute, but Arrocha sailed the shot high.
Upstate couldn't catch a break on corner kicks at the end of regulation as back-to-back corner kicks were cleared out by the Camels to send the game into overtime.
The first overtime period started out back-and-forth in the midfield, and Campbell attempted a sharp strike with around three minutes to go in the period but Baeza came up with a big save.
Monells later threw a shot on target and immediately had another shot blocked as the match stayed even at 2-2 heading into the second overtime period.
Upstate seemed to have the perfect chance in the 105th minute as Monells sent a pass to Arrocha who put up a shot that was just barely tipped high by the Camel keeper to keep things even for the draw.
Scoring Summary
7' – Upstate – Pol Monells (Assisted by Javier Torres)
12' – Upstate – Orion McHugh (Assisted by Mario Arrocha)
27' – Campbell – Alemu Mercer-Miko (Assisted by Jalen James)
57' – Campbell – Jamie Lamb (Assisted by Franck Momo and Alemu Mercer-Miko)
Card Summary
43' – Campbell – Moses Mensah (Yellow)
52' – Campbell – Bissafi Dotte (Yellow)
54' – Upstate – Hayden Anderson (Yellow)
73' – Campbell – Jake Morris (Yellow)
81' – Campbell – Diego Konincks (Yellow)
UP next for the Spartans
Upstate concludes its four-game homestand on Wednesday, March 3, against Presbyterian College. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at County University Soccer Stadium.
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