Lander Holds Off Second Half Pacer Rally
GREENWOOD, S.C. - A three-goal deficit proved too much for the University of South Carolina Aiken men's soccer team to overcome in a narrow 3-2 loss to Peach Belt Conference rival Lander on Thursday evening.
The Pacers entered the second half down 3-0 to the Bearcats, but they rallied for two second-half tallies to push the Bearcats to the edge on Thursday. An equalizer would not come with the Pacers dropping their fifth straight match with the loss to the Bearcats.
USC Aiken is now 4-8-1 on the year overall. The Pacers are 1-4 in the Peach Belt Conference. Lander is now 6-4-1 and 3-0-1 in the PBC.
John Lesko (Richland, Wash.) placed the Pacers on the scoreboard for the first time in the match in the 48th-minute when he scored off an assist from Svetlin Penchev (Sopot, Bulgaria).
The Pacer attack kept pushing in the second half with Brett Van Pelt (Aiken, S.C.) pulling the Pacers to within one with an unassisted goal at the 63:54 mark.
Lander scored its first goal in the 19th-minute on a Jamie Davison goal. Just over two minutes later, Davison assisted Aaron Brittain to earn the Bearcats a 2-0 lead.
Lander's Ivan Stoykov scored the eventual game-winner and the third goal in the match in the 39th-minute.
USC Aiken finished the match with one more shot than the Bearcats, taking 13 shots compared to Lander's 12. The Pacers owned a slight 4-3 advantage in corner kicks.
The Pacers are next slated to square off against Clayton State at approximately 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 17 in Aiken, S.C. The match is the second match of a men's and women's soccer PBC doubleheader at the "Pacer Pit" with the USC Aiken women's soccer team taking the pitch for a 1 p.m. match against the Clayton State women prior to the men's match.
 |  |
