Richard Bland Takes 4-1 Home Win Past Frederick CC

SOUTH PRINCE GEORGE, Va. – Sophomore Sebastian Hendi/Alexandria scored two goals to lead Richard Bland College to a 4-1 non-conference men's soccer triumph past visiting Frederick (Md.) Community College on Wednesday evening at Statesman Field. Classmates Sukrija Dudic/Richmond and Rodrigo Carvalho/Lisbon, Portugal each added goals for the host Statesman (2-1-0) against the Cougars (1-1-1), while sophomore Jeffrey Pineda/Los Angeles, Calif. and freshman Andrew Skaer/South Riding contributed assists. RBC will play its first road match of the season at Cape Fear (N.C.) Community College on Saturday, September 3 at 4 p.m. in Wilmington, North Carolina.

"It's always good to win," said third-year head coach Eduardo de Souza. "It was a chance for us to play most of our squad and gain some confidence. We're happy with the result, but we also know what we need to do now because our upcoming opponents will be stronger. This was a good building block for our league opponents coming up on the schedule."

Richard Bland wasted no time in getting on the scoreboard with two quick goals during the opening 10 minutes of the contest. Hendi opened with an unassisted goal at 6:02 when he gathered a misplayed ball by the defense and beat the keeper with a shot from close range. Dudic followed that with a successful penalty kick goal at 9:13 after a foul inside the box.

The Statesmen made it 3-0 when Carvalho scored a goal at 37:31, getting an assist from Pineda on a set piece, and it remained a three-goal advantage at the intermission.

Frederick avoided the shutout with a goal by Ivan Gutierrez at 64:09, unassisted when he collected another misplayed ball inside the box while in heavy traffic.

RBC pushed the margin back to three goals late as Hendi tallied his second goal of the match at 84:25, aided by an assist from Skaer following a corner kick opportunity by the hosts.

Freshman keeper Justin Ennis/Gainesville started and played the first 62:58 for RBC and recorded three saves while allowing no goals. Classmate Tomas Fonseca/Torres Vedras played the final 27:02 in front of the net for the Statesmen, making one save and yielding the lone opponent goal.

Richard Bland took an 8-5 advantage in shots against Frederick, including 6-5 in attempts on goal. The Cougars, however, had a 6-5 edge in corner kicks.

The Saturday match at Cape Fear is another Region X Conference contest for the Statesmen.