Men’s Soccer clipped by Coker in SAC Quarterfinals

HARTSVILLE, S.C. – The Catawba College men's soccer team bowed out of the South Atlantic Conference Championship Tournament in the quarterfinal round on Saturday with a 3-2 defeat at the hands of second-seeded, fourth-ranked Coker.

TEAM STATS

- The Catawba Indians (6-5-6) were out-shot 14-6 as the Cobras (14-1-1) boasted an 8-2 lead through 45 minutes

- Catawba, one of the nation's most prolific corner-kicking teams, was held to just one opportunity while Coker drew four

- The visitors were heavily penalized, getting whistled for 15 fouls versus Coker's seven in addition to leading the match in cards at 4-1 including one red

- Each squad had four field players play 90 minutes with six reserves seeing action

INDIVIDUAL STATS

- Garrett Alban and Salano Birch both found the back of the net for their third goals of the season

- Tino Lira was awarded the assist on Birch's game-tying tally

- Joe Bennett put one shot on net as he and Bautista Vecchi-Ramello led the blue and white with two shots apiece

- In his third start between the posts, Joe Whitney made a career-high seven saves

HOW IT HAPPENED

First Half

- Moments after Vecchi-Ramello fired the day's first shot to no avail, Oskar Kaufmann blasted a fifth-minute on-goal attempt that Whitney denied

- Following four more Cobra shots, just one of which was on net, Nikola Sotra tickled the twine in the 22nd minute with help from Kaufmann and Vitalis Takawira Jr.

- Coker was denied on a pair of shots on goal in the following minutes as Bennett's corner with five minutes until halftime failed to generate meaningful offense, giving the hosts a 1-0 edge at the break

Second Half

- The second stanza began with little action outside of three Catawba fouls; then, Coker broke the silence with its second score coming from Takawira Jr. in the 57th minute

- Whitney gobbled up another boot from Takawira Jr.; on the opposite end, Bennett sent in a 79th-minute shot that was saved by Charlie Walker, but Catawba persisted and broke through on a bullseye by Alban

- Birch and Rodrigo Albayeros subbed in just before the ensuing kickoff as Birch took less than two minutes to score off the assist by Lira, evening it up at 2-2

- 23 seconds later, the Cobras pulled ahead again on a goal from Jorhan Chopin

- The blue and white gave up a considerable number of chances to Coker in the late minutes as Whitney stopped Rafa Reno's 90th-minute attempt, but the offense ran out of steam to chalk up a 3-2 loss