Mobile, AL – Expected to be a battle,
the first game of the Gulf Coast Classic, in which 4th-ranked
William Carey defeated 7th-ranked Union College 2-0,
quickly turned into a slug fest. Early in the first half a punch
thrown by Union’s team captain Paulo Canineu Neto earned him a
one way trip off the field with a red card.
While Union had the better of play throughout the
remainder of the first half, William Carey came out in the second half and
took advantage of being one man up. After several near misses, Carey was
awarded a Penalty Kick in the 71st minute of play which they
converted on. Then in the 87th minute Carey struck again off an
indirect kick to go up 2-0 and seal the win.
In the second game of the evening the 11th-ranked
Mobile Rams soundly defeated Tennessee Wesleyan 3-0. Out shooting the
Bulldogs 12-5, the Rams struck early in the 20th minute. Teba
McKnight coming down the on the right sent a cross to the left post that
Nana Asante pounced through to put Mobile up 1-0.
Coming off the bench in the second half, Trinidad
native and the proud owner of a 10.4 in the 100 meters Carron William
blazed past two Bulldog defenders in the 71st minute to score
and put the Rams up 2-0.
Carron struck again in the 81st minute,
beating a defender towards the end line, William served the ball to James
Gledhill who dented the onion bag for a 3-0 lead and a 4-0 start on the
season.
In post-game comments, Rams coach Peter Fuller
said, “I was pleased with a better second half than first. In our prior
two games, we’ve started out the second half poor. Against St. Xavier we
gave up two goals and against Westmont we were poor. The standard of play
is not where it needs to win our upcoming games. I was pleased with a
better second half attitude but tomorrow we will be facing a very good,
technical and athletic Union team that didn’t come here to lose two games
in a row. They’re very dangerous on set pieces, specifically corners and
will put pressure on us. They’re certainly expecting a different result
than what they got tonight.”
William Carey will play Tenn. Wesleyan at 3:00
p.m. and Mobile will take on Union at 7:30 p.m.
