Gardner-Webb Falls in the Battle of the Bulldogs
September 22, 2007 | Men's Soccer
Gardner-Webb fell to visiting Alabama A&M in this Saturday's
"Battle of the Bulldogs" at Varsity Field. More than a hundred
supporters came out for our Bulldogs, but Alabama A&M squeeked
past and went on to win 2-0.
The first half of play saw a lot of action between the two sides.
Both teams took advantage of the aggressive play that was allowed
by the head official. Although play was aggressive, the fouls did
not start mounting up until the second half.
Gardner-Webb had several great oppurtunities in the first minutes
of the first half. After a cross into the box and a struggle for
possession, Jordan Gaines pulled free of a defender and fired one
towards goal but it went straight to the keeper. The missed
oppurtunity proved to be a costly one seeing as Alabama A&M's
keeper only had to make four saves in the game.
Mosito Ranko scored the first goal of the match when he received a
through-ball from Lwanzi Maziya and put it in the side netting,
barely past Dane Geraci's fingertips. The goal seemed to shake
Gardner-Webb a little bit, knowing that it's strong line of defense
was broken down.
The second goal of the match came late in the first half with only
several minutes remaining. Ranko crossed the ball in from the right
wing and Jabulani Selumane jumped up and connected with a bicycle
kick to make the score 2-0. Although the goal was an impressive
one, it also was one of luck. Nonetheless, it proved to be crucial
by giving the Bulldogs a little insurance on their lead.
The second half of action saw a lot of fouls and a lot of
possession battles. The two defenses allowed few attempts, none of
which were rewarded. The pressure of needing to score led
Gardner-Webb to more aggressive play, which in turn led to more
fouls. A total of three yellow cards were issued, two of which were
issued on the same play.
Each team had three corner kicks and eight shots, but only 5 saves
were made in the game (one by Gardner-Webb and four by Alabama
A&M).
Gardner-Webb is back in action on September 28th at Jacksonville.
This will be the Bulldogs first conference game of the season and
is scheduled to begin at 4 PM.
| Box Score |
