BOILING SPRINGS, N.C.- Craig Swaby and Jascha Gluckschalt each scored their first goal of the season but two first half goals followed by Gordon Wild's second of the match in the 62nd minute, lifted USC Upstate to a 3-2 victory over the Gardner-Webb men's soccer team in a non-conference match on Saturday evening at Greene-Harbison Stadium.
USC Upstate outshot Gardner-Webb by a slight 14-12 margin, but the Runnin' Bulldogs managed six corner kick opportunities and held the Spartans to just one. Offensively, Swaby totaled three shots to lead the offense and Sami Jilla, Marvin Mendy, Ali Al-Gashamy, and Gluckschalt each had two attempts, while Gordon Wild for recorded four shots for Upstate, two of which he put into the Runnin' Bulldogs net.
William Liles came on to replace Matthew Swan in goal for the Dogs in the 33rd minute, as the junior goalkeeper collided with a GWU defender and was helped off the field by the Gardner-Webb athletic training staff.
Looking to get off to a quick start in front of the home fans, the Runnin' Bulldogs came ever so close to taking a 1-0 lead in the 5th minute, when Dustin Peyton crossed the ball into the box to Sami Jilla, who headed the cross toward the net, but his header drilled the post.
USC Upstate came right back and took advantage of its first scoring attempt of the match, as Leon Schwarzer drilled home a cross to put the Spartans up 1-0 in the eighth minute.
Just before halftime, Wild put home a pass from Schwarzer to double the Spartan lead to 2-0 at the halftime break.
Wild netted his second of the match in the 62nd minute when he curled in a free kick from 30 yards out to extend the Upstate advantage to 3-0.
Trailing 3-0 midway in the second half, Gardner-Webb did not quit and continued to play with a high tempo and were rewarded when Swaby headed in a cross to cut the Upstate lead to 3-1.
Upstate continued to hold the 3-1 lead, but Gardner-Webb capatlized on a failed clearing attempt by the Spartans in the 82nd minute. Jilla took a long throw in for the Dogs, which the Spartans tried to clear, but the attempt went right to Gluckshaclt, who buried his shot attemp to cut the Spartant lead 3-2.
Just three minutes later, Swaby rose up and headed a cross towards the Spartan goal that looked like it had a chance to tie the game at three for the Dogs, but Hassan Haddad came up with a huge diving save to preserve the 3-2 victory for USC Upstate.
Gardner-Webb returns to the field on Tuesday, when it travels to Raleigh, N.C. to face North Carolina State at 7:00 p.m.
