PIKEVILLE, Ky. - University of Pikeville men's soccer lost a close, 3-2 battle to Tennessee Wesleyan Wednesday afternoon at Bob Amos Park.
Tennesee Wesleyan got the offense rolling early with a header in the 5' that went wide. The Bulldogs' next scoring opportunity gave them the lead. TWU's Logan Thompson scored off a feed from Robin Vezinhet in the 9' to put TWU ahead 1-0 early.
Despite giving up the early goal, the Bears battled back. In the 18', Oliver Fausel fired a shot through some traffic and leveled the score at 1-1. The Bears' next great scoring chance came in the 45' when Rafael Chavarria fired a shot that was saved by TWU's Leo Summers. UPIKE and TWU were tied 5-5 in shots at 1-1 in goals at the end of the first half.
The Bulldogs opened the second half the same way they opened the first, with an early goal. Oliver Brennan put TWU back up with a goal in the 52'. UPIKE leveled the score 20 minutes later when Bruno Back connected with Tomas Cristancho in the 72'. Olivier Wentink checked into the game and made an impact, firing a shot that just went wide of the post.
In the 82', TWU's Grant Barron scored the go-ahead goal off an assist from Robin Vezinhat. The Bears made a late push, including a shot on goal by Oliver Fausel in the 84' that was turned away by TWU's Leo Summers. The Bears were unable to push the tying goal across and the Bulldogs took the match 3-2.
The Bears outshot the Bulldogs 14-13 advantage in shot attempts. Rafael Chavarria and Bruno Arenal led the Bears with three shot attempts each. In net, Adam Di Millo made five saves. Coach Oliver Hewitt-Fisher's squad is 2-10-1 (1-6-1 AAC) following today's result. Men's soccer will hit the pitch Saturday in Barbourville, Ky., for a 7 PM match against the Union Commonwealth Bulldogs.
#BearDown