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PREVIEW: Men's Soccer set for Sunday match with #6 Limestone

PREVIEW: Men's Soccer set for Sunday match with #6 Limestone

SALISBURY, N.C. – The Catawba College men's soccer team takes on its highest-ranked opponent since 2021 when the No. 6 Limestone Saints come to Frock Field for a 1 p.m. match on Saturday afternoon.

 

Team Leaderboard

- Bautista Vecchi-Ramello is the top goal-scorer with three goals that were scored consecutively

- Six players have netted goals for Catawba as Vecchi-Ramello and Sebastia Cerda-Tous have multiple tallies while sharing the team high in shots at 17

- After seeing a gradual increase in minutes, freshman Garrett Alban found the twine with his first career goal at Lincoln Memorial

- Zak Stiffler has absorbed 12 saves in his 513 minutes between the posts, logging a 1.40 goals against average and a .600 save percentage

 

Last-Minute Equalizers

- The Catawba Indians' two league matches ended level thanks to scores within the final five minutes

- In Catawba's duel with No. 18 Lincoln Memorial last weekend, the squad conceded an 85th-minute go-ahead goal but struck back when Rodrigo Albayeros connected with Jaime Serrano on a corner kick with 2:04 left

- The South Atlantic Conference opener featured scoreless play until Carson-Newman took the lead on a penalty kick. As the clock dipped below the five-minute mark, Vecchi-Ramello broke through the defense to deliver the game-tying goal in the 86th minute

- Now at 1-1-4 overall, Catawba is one tie away from its single-season record set in 1992

 

Big Boots

- Catawba remains atop the conference and ranks among the nation's best in shots and corner kicks

- Anchored by double-figure corner totals in two matches, Catawba stands fourth in Division II with an average of 8.33 per game

- Vecchi-Ramello's header at Mount Olive and Serrano's dart at LMU mark the only two goals from corners out of 50 chances

- Catawba is 12th nationwide with 16.33 shots per game, firing 16 or more shots in five contests

- Limestone has held their foes to an average of 9.2 shots, but have conceded double-digit marks in its last two games against Florida Tech and Wingate

 

All-Time Series

- Catawba and Limestone have met five times as the series ledger leans 3-2 toward the Saints

- The foes' first meeting was in 2008, before Limestone joined the SAC, and produced a 5-1 Saints win

- Of the Catawba Indians' two triumphs, their most significant was on Nov. 6, 2021 when the blue and white upset the 15th-ranked Saints, 1-0, in the SAC Tournament

- Limestone took the 2023 matchup with a five-goal shutout after Catawba prevailed in 2022 by a 4-3 margin

 

Scouting the Saints

- Limestone remains unbeaten with a 4-0-1 record while going 2-0 in conference action

- All four Saint victories were shutouts against nationally-ranked opposition as No. 4 Wingate was Limestone's last victim in a 1-0 match last Saturday

- The squad's lone blemish came in the season opener against Young Harris when the Saints capped off a second-half comeback with a 90th-minute goal for an even 2-2 result

- Mark Radoki is the only Limestone player to have multiple goals and assists with three scores and two helpers

- Nikolaj Bertelsen has played all 450 minutes in goal, posting a .900 save percentage and 0.40 goals against average with eight saves in each of the last two matches

 

Follow Along

For those unable to attend, the match will be broadcast on FloSports ($) and live stats can be found on CatawbaAthletics.com.