Ona-Vera's first career goal lifts Men's Soccer over Mount Olive

MOUNT OLIVE, N.C. – The Catawba College men's soccer team saw Bautista Vecchi-Ramello and Kheynne Ona-Vera net first-half goals and held on to preserve its first victory of 2024 in 2-1 fashion at Mount Olive on Wednesday night.

TEAM STATS

- Catawba (1-0-2) led the shot count by a wide 18-6 margin

- Mount Olive (0-2) turned away eight Catawba shots – four in each half – as Zak Stiffler gobbled up three on-goal attempts in the second period

- The Catawba Indians followed up their 14-corner kick outing against USC Aiken last Saturday with 13 opportunities while UMO had two

- Each side was shown three yellow cards as Catawba was slightly more penalized at 14 fouls to the Trojans' 11

- Time of possession leaned heavily toward the visitors who controlled the ball for 61 percent of the match

INDIVIDUAL STATS

- Vecchi-Ramello scored a goal for the first time since his six-tally rookie campaign in 2022

- To break a first-half tie, Ona-Vera connected on his first career goal

- Noah Sapsford notched the first assist of his college career along with a game-high six shots, three on net

- Joe Bennett picked up his fifth assist in a Catawba uniform

- Stiffler earned the win, upping his career record to 21-15-6

HOW IT HAPPENED

First Half

- In the contest's third minute, Christen Lugo-Elibox capitalized on a pass from Babacar Fall at the top of the box, sending a shielded shot into the twine to put UMO ahead early

- The Trojans committed a foul in the box to present Catawba with a ninth-minute penalty kick opportunity. Sapsford lined up and delivered a boot to the bottom-left corner, but Axel Engren made the save

- Minutes later, Bennett placed the night's second corner kick into the goal area to a waiting Vecchi-Ramello who headed in the equalizer

- UMO broke up a Catawba corner kick in the 24th minute, sending the ball back to the midfield, but the offense regathered possession. Sapsford threaded a pass to Ona-Vera as the Queen City product whipped a left-footed shot into paydirt to take a 2-1 edge

Second Half

- The teams traded corners and cards to open the second stanza, each resulting in a saved shot

- Catawba maintained possession for nearly a four-minute span that included a promising shot from Sebastia Cerda-Tous that Engren elevated to deny

- The Trojans could not generate meaningful offense after a team yellow card in the 81st minute to suffer a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Catawba

UP NEXT

The Catawba Indians are back at Frock Field on Saturday, Sep. 14 to open South Atlantic Conference play against Carson-Newman. Kickoff is slated for 7:30 p.m.