PREVIEW: Men's Soccer squares off with Anderson in Saturday night showdown

ANDERSON, S.C. – The Catawba College men's soccer team goes up against a regionally-ranked opponent for the fifth match in a row, clashing with Anderson on the road Saturday night at 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday Rewind

- The Catawba Indians applied pressure on the 18th-ranked Coker Cobras, but ultimately dropped the contest, 3-1, to become 0-2-2 in South Atlantic Conference play

- Bautista Vecchi-Ramello supplied the squad's lone goal in the 40th minute, getting help from assists by Noah Sapsford and Kenny Hassler

- Catawba held a 4-3 edge in shots on goal, but three saves from Charlie Walker kept the Cobras in front

- Among the four Catawba field players with 90 minutes was Greg Chatzopoulos, the freshman's first career complete game at center back

By the Numbers

- Vecchi-Ramello's dart against the Cobras extended his team lead in goals to four as he continues to pace the lineup in on-goal shots (9) and total attempts (21)

- Sebastia Cerda-Tous slots second with two goals, firing 19 shots with seven on target

- Of the six players credited with assists this season, Sapsford is the only contributor with two

- Outside of Zak Stiffler who has logged 648 minutes between the posts, Vecchi-Ramello (604) and Jaime Serrano (602) are Catawba's leaders in minutes played

Against the Nation

- Catawba ranks ninth in Division II and tops the SAC with 7.00 corner kicks per game; Anderson is averaging 5.17 per contest at fourth in the league

- With an average of 14.75 deliveries per match, the Catawba Indians rank 30th as the 5.50 per-game shots on goal mark is 90th

- Cerda-Tous and Vecchi-Ramello are 57th and 65th, respectively, in shots per game to take fifth and sixth in the conference

- Per Massey Ratings, the Catawba offense is the 65th-best nationally while its strength of schedule is 25th

All-Time Series

- Catawba is 1-10-2 against the Trojans, obtaining its first win in the series two years ago

- As the visiting team, Catawba has a 1-5 record as Anderson has posted a multi-goal margin of victory on four occasions

- The squads' last meeting in Anderson on Oct. 22, 2022 resulted in a 2-1 triumph for the Catawba Indians, snapping a nine-match streak of Trojan victories. In that contest, Anderson out-shot Catawba 17-8

Scouting the Trojans

- The regionally-ranked Anderson Trojans are 3-2-1 overall, 2-1 in conference action

- Lenoir-Rhyne came from behind and netted an 84th-minute winner to top the Trojans, 2-1, on Wednesday

- Catawba and Anderson share a common opponent in Montevallo; the blue and white surrendered two late goals for a season-opening 3-3 draw, while Anderson inflicted a 5-1 lashing in the programs' Sep. 18 encounter

- Diego Jaramillo, who recorded a hat trick against Montevallo, is third in the league with five goals and 13 points

- Juan Pablo Lepervanche notched his fourth goal of the season, second via penalty kick, against LR

- In goal, Franco Antoniolli Funes has played all 540 minutes with a stingy 1.33 goals against average and a .704 save percentage

Follow Along

All SAC matches are broadcast on FloSports ($) as live stats will be provided on autrojans.com.