OPPORTUNE SCORING, TOUGH DEFENSE LEAD MEN'S SOCCER TO 4-1 WIN
PETERSBURG, Va., (Sept. 13, 2015) – The Richard Bland College men's soccer team scored two first half goals just seven minutes apart, and those tallies were all the Statesmen needed to secure a 4-1 victory over visiting University of South Carolina Salkenhatchie in Conference X action under sunny skies at Statesmen Field on Sunday afternoon.
The well-rested Statesmen, who were playing their first game since upsetting Cape Fear, 3-1, on Sept. 5, got first half goals from sophomore forward Godfred Baisel (Cape Coast, Ghana/ Patriot) and freshman Šukrija Dudič (Srebrenica, Bosnia Hercegovina/Hermitage) to build a 2-0 halftime lead. Richard Bland tacked on two insurance goals in the second half to secure the victory.
Now winners of three straight, Richard Bland improves to 6-2, 4-2 in conference play. USC Salkenhatchie drops to 0-5, 0-2. The Statesmen will now have a five day break before resuming action with an away contest against Spartanburg Methodist, a team that defeated Richard Bland 6-2 earlier in the season, next Saturday, Sept. 19 at 1:00 p.m. The Indians next host Patrick Henry at 4:00 p.m. on Sept. 19.
Baisel's goal, the first of two he would tally in the game, came at the 31 minute mark of the first half, assisted by Dudič (Srebrenica, Bosnia Hercegovina/Hermitage), who crossed the ball for an easy tap for his teammate. Dudič scored Richard Bland's second goal at the 38 minute mark. His sixth goal of the season was orchestrated by freshman Lorenzo Romero (New York, NY/Stonewall Jackson), who drove deep down the right hand side before feeding his teammate.
Baisel's second goal pushed the Richard Bland lead to 3-0, notching his 27th career goal off an assist by freshman forward Leonard Obala (Nairobi, Kenya/Aquinas) at the 21 minute mark of the second half. Textbook soccer saw Obala take the ball down the left side and flick a pass to Obala in the middle of the field. Oballa approached the Indians goal and slapped his tally into the right side of the goal.
The Indians avoided being shutout for a fifth straight game when freshman forward Romario Pessoa scored on a free kick with 8:23 remaining in the second half.
The Statesmen iced the game with 5:32 to play when freshman forward Sebastian Hendi (Buenos Aires, Argentina/T.C. Williams) took a nifty feed from freshman winger Carlos Cason (Richmond, VA / J.R. Tucker) for his first goal wearing a Richard Bland uniform.
In nets for the Statesmen, freshman Ciro Labrada (Guanajuto, Mexico/Stonewall Jackson) had seven saves. Sophomore Richard Trench made seven saves for the Indians.
"It was a nice win and I am very happy for the team, said head coach Eduardo de Souza afterwards. The rest following Cape Fear was good – I think it helped our defense, which was the highlight of the game for us. The team worked well together defensively and kept up in the game. I felt Lorenzo Romero was very good for us today. His assist was terrific and his teammates fed off his energy and aggressive play."