BAISEL'S LATE GOAL LIFTS MEN'S SOCCER TO 1-0 VICTORY OVER CAPE FEAR

PETERSBURG, Va., (Oct, 21, 2015) — It took nearly the full compliment of 90 minutes for the Richard Bland College men's soccer team to earn a hard-fought 1-0 Region X victory over a determined Cape Fear Community College team under bright sunshine on Wednesday afternoon at Statesmen Field.

In a game that appeared almost certain to require overtime, sophomore Godfred Baisel (Cape Coast Ghana/Patriot) scored a brilliant goal in the 88th minute off a textbook feed from fellow sophomore Eduardo Quintanilla (San Salvador, El Salvador/Stonewall Jackson). The swift Quintanilla led a fleeting Baisel along the left sideline who out ran two Cape Fear defenders and scored his 11th goal of the season by flicking the ball off the outside of his right foot and into the far right corner of the Sea Devils net.

The victory completes a series sweep of Cape Fear for the Statesmen and improves their school record season to 11-4-2, 8-3-2 in Region X. Cape Fear drops to 6-7-2, 3-7-1. Richard Bland concludes its regular season on Sunday, Oct. 25 traveling to face No. 1 ranked Louisburg College at 2:00 p.m. in North Carolina. Cape Fear next hosts Patrick Henry on Saturday, Oct. 24 at 2:30 p.m.

The game was a battle of wills and playing styles, each team on occasion falling into chippy, uneven play, emblematic of late season conference games played by teams fighting for playoff seeding. 

The Statesmen had most of their opportunities to build a comfortable lead in the first half, taking nine of their 14 shots. On two occasions freshman forward Sukrija Dudic (Srebrenica, Bosnia Hercegovina/Hermitage) had his goal attempts thwarted, at the 42:25 minute when his clear look on goal went just wide and at the 26:08 mark when he barely missed a direct kick. The game's hero, Baisel, deked two Cape Fear defenders at the 22:55 juncture and had his clean attempt on goal blocked by an alert Sea Devils player.

The Richard Bland defense was superb. Cape Fear didn't get its first shot on goal against freshman keeper Ciro Labrada (Guanajuto, Mexico/Stonewall Jackson) until the 5:02 mark in the first half. The game was tied 0-0 at intermission, but RBC held a 9-2 advantage in shots. 

Cape Fear applied increasingly more pressure in the second half, knocking off five shots, but was unable to solve the Statesmen defense. Richard Bland had few opportunities to score until Quintanilla and Baisel connected.

"We found a way to win," said Richard Bland head coach Eduardo de Souza afterwards. "We didn't connect well today, but in the end Godfred Baisel proved why he's the program's all-time leading scorer. He wasn't going to be denied. Our defense played very well and now we have a great opportunity to play an undefeated and No. 1 ranked team in Louisburg on Sunday."

Prior to the game, the Statesmen honored their six sophomores (Godfred Baisel, Adam Belkorchi, Lawrence Braxton, Larry Sawyer, Jerry Thomas and Eduardo Quintanilla) and the team wore pink socks in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.