The Tigers returned to the pitch on Tuesday evening as they traveled to Lynchburg to take on New Covenant in an attempt to avenge their only defeat on the season. A tight game throughout, the Tigers were able to pull away in the late stages of the match to win 3-1.
Both teams were very tight in the first half as at the break it was 0-0. “There was a lot of emotion going into this game as we lost at home to them a couple of weeks ago,” stated Eubank. “I felt that if we could settle in after the first 20 minutes of the match we would be able to dictate the game and play Hargrave soccer.”
In the second half they came out and did just that. Six minutes into the second half, Youssef Abouzied (Cairo, Egypt) finds Raines Wall (Chatham, VA) on a through ball that slices through the New Covenant backline for the 1-0 lead. Then in the 66th minute, Abouzied was able to find the back of the net off of some nice footwork to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead with 14 minutes left to play. New Covenant was awarded a penalty in the 70th minute which they were able capitalize on to make it 2-1 Tigers. The Tigers would not be stopped though as Abouzied was able to find the back of the net for the game’s final goal in the 74th minute.
“We made some second half adjustments that allowed us to dictate the game from start until the end of the half,” stated Eubank. “Our defense (John Seepe, Chad Demarest, Matteo Sicignano, Jon Morphis, Kyle Pisciotta, and Jesse Vogg) has done an outstanding job to this point, but tonight they showed why we have been able to have the success that we have had to this point.”
On the season that moves the Tigers’ record to 12-1-1 overall and 4-0-1 in the VIC conference with a big VIC clash on Thursday evening at Carlisle at 6 PM. “This has been a very much anticipated match of the season for all of the VIC. It will be a good test once again to see how we match-up with some of the best teams in Division II,” stated Eubank.
