BOILING SPRINGS, N.C.- Ali Al-Gashamy scored two first half goals and Marvin Mendy notched his fifth of the season early in the second half to send the Gardner-Webb men's soccer team (3-9, 2-2 BSC) to a 3-1 victory over UNC Asheville (4-6-1, 1-3 BSC) in a Big South Conference match on Wednesday evening at Greene-Harbison Stadium.
Originally scheduled to be played on Oct. 3, inclement weather forced the match to be postponed until tonight (Oct. 14).
The victory gives the Runnin' Bulldogs their second win in a row as they defeated Liberty 1-0 on Saturday afternoon.
Offensively, Gardner-Webb outshot UNC Asheville 14-10 including firing 10 attempts in the second half, while limiting Asheville to just seven. After combining for just seven shots in the first half, both teams featured more possession in the offensive ends of the field resulting in 17 combined shot attempts.
Al-Gashamy led the way for the Runnin' Bulldogs attempting a game high eight shots and Mendy sent two toward the Bulldog net, while UNCA's leading scorer Zach Joens paced the Asheville attack with four shots.
William Liles made his sixth start in net for the injured Matthew Swan and recorded one save in the match, to earn up his third victory of the season.
Gardner-Webb jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead in the 11th minute when Ramberg took a quick corner and passed the ball to Al-Gashamy, who dribbled to the middle of the field and fired a shot, which deflected off a UNCA defender and into the net.
Midway through the opening half, the Runnin' Bulldogs continued to push the attack and were rewarded with a penalty kick opportunity after Asheville was called for a handball inside the 18-yard box. Al-Gashamy was selected to take the PK and his attempt was successful, giving the Dogs the 2-0 advantage at the halftime break.
Seven minutes into the second half, UNCA was called for a four resulting in a free-kick for GWU. Jascha Gluckschalt fired a bullet toward the Bulldog goal, which smacked the cross-bar and fell straight down, but fortunately for the Dogs, Mendy was at the right place at the right time and kicked the ball into the UNCA goal.
Asheville broke the shutout in the 57th minute on a goal by Joens, but Gardner-Webb put forth a solid defensive effort for the remainder of the match and would go on for the 3-1 victory.
Gardner-Webb returns to action Saturday, when it travels to Buies Creek, N.C. to face Campbell at 5:00 p.m.
