Knights Fall to Carolina University Bruins 4-2
The Knights traveled to Winston-Salem North Carolina to take on the Division I South Region University of Carolina Bruins of the NCCAA this evening. A high scoring affair isn't something we've been used to this season with the Knights, as the team was on the wrong side of a six goal contest. With the game being played outside of the AAC division, it's a loss that the Knights can't hang their head for too long, as the loss won't damage their conference standing in the AAC.
Before we go into the play-by-play, a look in the box score will show you just how close these two sides were evenly matched on the day. The Bruins recorded a total of 13 shots, with eight of them being on target, while the Knights took nine attempts at goal and hitting the target seven times. Both teams shared three corner kicks for their respective sides, while the St. Andrews side committed 11 fouls to the Bruins eight with each side shown a yellow card once.
The scoring opened up quickly in the contest, as Bruin target man Jordan Julien slammed his shot past the dive of Ewen McCormick (Pembrokeshire, Wales) who got the start in goal tonight for the Knights. The goal came after a pretty stagnant opening 10 minutes with neither side recording a shot up until that point.
In the 14th minute, Alessandro Mastrofilippo (Bari, Italy) registered a shot at goal in the box and a great look at target, but was ultimately denied by the gloves of Bruins goalie William Cothill.
Pablo Diezhandino had the Knights next best try in the half in the 33rd minute when his shot forced another athletic save from the Carolina keeper. At the halftime break the teams would walk off the field in an evenly contested game, with the Bruins holding the advantage only in the scoreline.
The second half was all about the goal scoring as Juan Alvarez-Acosta (Medellin, Colombia) leveled the match with a superb strike off an unassisted goal. Before the Knights could even catch their breath or make any real tactical changes, Bruins attacker Jordan Julien struck for the second time of the match, placing his shot just out of the reach of Ewen McCormick.
Just three minutes later in the 63rd, the Bruins kept pouring on the pressure and this time midfielder Mario Salinas stepped into a magnificent strike from a through ball by Aidan Fletcher.
At 3-1 and on the road, it would have been easy for the Knights to throw in the towel and try again next time out, however Juan Alvarez-Acosta struck for the second time of the match, and this meant game on for the Knights.
With 10 minutes left it was always possible, but the Bruins were able to put one more past McCormick to seal the game and send the Knights home with the loss this time around.
The Knights will be back in action shortly on October 15th when they travel to Johnson TN, to face Johnson University in an AAC matchup. The match is slated to begin at 4:30 PM.