Men’s soccer season ends in penalty kicks

By Joseph Barber

MORROW, Ga. - The Braves took Lander University to penalty kicks, but came up short in the first round of the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Men’s Soccer Championships on Nov. 11.

Regulation and two overtime periods did not provide enough time to decide a winner, so the game went to penalty kicks with each team having scored one goal.

In the five-shot shootout, Lander’s Carlos Lozano missed his first penalty kick, but was awarded a retry because Braves goalkeeper Richard Sallin moved forward too soon. On the re-kick, Lozano scored, putting Lander up 1-0.

John Cooper took UNCP’s first shot, but missed as the shot hit the cross bar.

Lander went up 2-0 on a successful kick by Jack Thompson.

UNCP got on the board when Bjorn Beck knocked a shot past Lander goalkeeper Garrett Daum, but fell behind by two again on a goal by Nick Cooke.

Daum made a save on UNCP’s Serkan Yucel, which paved the way for Lander to take the game. Lander did just that as Luke Ibbetson put the fourth and deciding goal in the net, ending the Braves’ season.

There was not much offense leading up to the shootout.

The first half saw six shots from both teams, but no goals.

Lander scored the first goal of the game in the 69th minute when Ibbetson connected on a penalty kick set up by a foul in the box. Ibbetson was the PBC Player of the Year.

The Braves scored just over two minutes later, when Cooper scored on a cross by Trond Myrland.

The Braves recorded six shots in the second half, one shot in the first overtime and zero shots in the second overtime.

Lander managed two shots in the first overtime and one in the second.

The very physical game featured 10 yellow cards, five for each team, and one red card, given to Lander’s Drew Courtney. The red card forced Lander to play one man down for the remainder of the game, but the Braves could not capitalize.

Sallin recorded five saves in the game, compared to seven for Daum.