Florida Gulf Coast University men's soccer traveled to High Point, North Carolina, on Sunday, dropping a 3-0 decision against High Point University.
"We made some key mistakes, didn't have the quality at important times, continued to play in areas we shouldn't and didn't present the level of danger necessary to win this game," head coach
Jesse Cormier said. "We have a week to address these areas and change to compete for the ASUN title and achieve our goals for the season."
The Panthers had a relentless high press that prevented the ball from being switched, causing play to stay in the Eagles' defensive half of the pitch for much of the first 35 minutes. High Point would earn their first goal off a set piece from the side of the box that sailed over every attacker's head but ricocheted off the hip of an FGCU defender and in.
High Point scored their second goal after a Green and Blue turnover. The Panther attacker took the ball and put a low, driven ball into the lower 90 for the 2-0 lead.
The Eagles got a good attacking threat in the final minute of the first half with
Cao Chaves getting a shot toward the goal that was blocked. It fell to his feet again. This time Chaves put a cut back towards the center of the box that would be cleared to end the half.
The Panthers attack continued in the second half with a through pass in the 50
th minute, allowing Brendan Krueger a 1-on-1 attempt against the keeper. Krueger was able to slot it away for the 3-0 lead.
Beltran Alvarez used a spin move to beat his defender in the 68
th minute. Alvarez got a shot off that was blocked and trickled towards the keeper. The Eagles would apply significant pressure towards the end of the match with FGCU recording the final four shots of the game from Alvarez,
Jahvanie Hammond,
Luke Barforosh and
Samuel Maraver.
The match started chippy, with two yellow cards issued in the first six minutes. The Green and Blue recorded seven shots on the day, zero on target.
The Eagles will begin ASUN play with their conference opener at home against Jacksonville on Saturday at 6 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at the link above. The match will be streamed on ESPN+.
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