September 3, 2003

UM Blanks Belhaven College 5-0

Jackson , Miss. – On a wet and slippery field, the No. 2 University of Mobile men’s soccer team racked up another clean sheet as they defeated the Belhaven College Blazers 5-0.

“I’m surprised by the result because they’re a good team,” Coach Fuller said. “Phil [Moyer] has done a really good job with them by recruiting well with limited resources. Getting a 4-0 result or more was nothing that I thought would have happened.”

Jason Miniaci broke the seal in the 16^th minute with a beautiful shot 18 yards off the right post. Receiving the ball just outside the box, Miniaci turned and fired a shot to the back upper-ninety.

Ten minutes later, Thiago Ramos, the Rams’ leading goal scorer (4 goals on the season), dented the net to put Mobile up 2-0.

Ramos struck again in the 36^th minute, only this time sending a header to the back left post after Ruben Risco beat his defender and served the ball from the right side of the 18-yard box.

Risco picked up where he left off in the second half only this time he was on the receiving end of a great service by Darren Toby. Playing 1 vs. 1 against a defender, Risco fired a shot from the top of the 18-yard box to put the Rams up 4-0.

The final goal of the night was scored by Trinidad National Team member Dean Logan who came off the bench and on his first touch of the evening scored after picking up a bad pass in the back.

“Miniaci up front was great, Thiago had some great moments, Ruben Risco was a different class on both sides of the field, and I thought Jamie Ferguson played his best game so far,” Coach Fuller commented afterwards. “Jamie is turning the corner for us, and we need him. Darren Toby, playing a very foreign position to him, was great and Mark Robinson and Mike Fricke were tremendous in the midfield for us, as well as Johani Koivuranth. And that pretty much is everybody, including Tommi in goal. And that shows that tonight was a solid effort from everybody.”

Tonight’s result was a far cry from the 1-0 win the Rams picked up last year. With the adjustments that Coach Fuller had to make against a solid Blazers team, he commented, “The guys handled things brilliantly and did the things we talked about in our walkthrough session yesterday. Robby Longhurst was playing against Brian Curtin, who’s their best player, an absolute handful, and one of the best forwards in the region. And Robby was tremendous against him. That allowed us to do other things going forward, without us having to worry because of the job Robby did.”

The Rams, now 3-0 on the season, will play their first home game on Thursday, Sept. 11, at 7 p.m. against Oklahoma Christian University .

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