CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Coming off a win in its season opener last week, the Gardner-Webb men's soccer team hit the road on Monday night for the second time in two matches to kick off its 2022 campaign, falling to Charlotte by a final score of 4-0 from TransAmerica Field in the Queen City.
 
The Runnin' Bulldogs (1-1-0) took a scoreless draw into halftime, but could not hold off the pressing Charlotte (2-0-0) attack as the 49ers fired off a total of 31 shots – 17 in the second half – en route to victory.
 
"We held them off in the first half, but we were under a lot of pressure," said head coach Tony Setzer. "Charlotte is a good team, and we have to be better. We lost concentration for five minutes against a top 25 team, and they punished our errors. Now, we learn our lesson and put it to use."
 
Gardner-Webb goalie Javier Ramirez played all 90 minutes between the pipes and made eight saves on 12 shots on goal as the freshman keeper continued to make a series of impressive saves throughout the contest despite a relentless CLT offensive performance.
 
After being denied on its first 16 shot attempts, Charlotte – who was coming off a 3-2 win over Virginia its last time out – finally broke through for the first score of the match in the 60^th minute when Sean Suber converted on a penalty kick to put the home team up, 1-0. The next goal came just 150 seconds later to make it 2-0, while the final two from the 49ers came in the 73^rd and 77^th minutes to round out the evening's scoring.
 
The Runnin' Bulldogs finished with six shots, five of which went on goal. Freshman Jaylen Orr, who scored the lone goal in GWU's season-opening victory at Wofford, had three of those shots on goal, while freshman forward Pablo Brimeux and junior midfielder Marcovich Brown each had one apiece.
 
Gardner-Webb will now look ahead towards its upcoming home opener this Friday, September 2 when the Runnin' Bulldogs welcome Furman to Greene-Harbison Stadium for a 6 p.m. opening kickoff in Boiling Springs.