WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – William & Mary men's soccer suffered its first loss in 10 matches, falling to UNCW, 2-0, on Saturday night at Martin Family Stadium at Albert-Daly Field.
The Seahawks (5-3-4 4-1-2 CAA) scored once in each half moving up to the No. 2 spot in the CAA standings. Despite having its nine-match unbeaten streak snapped, the Tribe remains in a key top-six spot in the league with two matches remaining.
W&M (4-3-6, 2-2-3 CAA) had a couple of quality chances on frame in the early part of the opening half, but UNCW's Gabriel Perrotta came up with saves. He turned away a shot from the top of the box less then 30 seconds into the contest, before blocking
Theo Biddle's header inside the six off a corner kick in the 21st minute.
UNCW broke into the scoring column in the 36th minute. Josef Hefele served the ball in from the right wing to the middle of the box where Jalen Anderson volleyed it home into the left side of the goal, giving the visitor a 1-0 lead.
The Tribe generated six corner kicks and attempted four shots, all on goal, in the second half, but could not find the equalizer. Perrotta finished with six saves in recording the clean sheet.
UNCW scored the capper thanks to an own goal in the 75th minute. Gabe Mercer ripped a shot from the top of the 18 off the crossbar that went straight up in the air. In trying to corral the ball, graduate student goalkeeper
Danilo Nikcevic knocked it in for an own goal.
Scoring Summary
36' | UNCW – Jalen Anderson (Josef Hefele)
75' | UNCW – Own Goal
Starting Lineup
W&M - #25 Nikcevic (GK), #2 Biddle, #4
James Bradley, #6 Bozalongo, #7 Levengood, #9 Nwegbo, #11 Messer, #13 Crocco, #14 Knapp, #21 Cooper, #23 Core
UNCW – #1 Perrotta (GK), #2 Hillis, #3 Strumeier, #4 Hefele, #7 Anderson, #8 Graham, #11 Casas, #12 Ndiaye, #15 Shannon, #18 Newsome, #23 Mercer
Up Next
The Tribe hits the road for a pair of matches next week. W&M heads to ACC foe N.C. State on Tuesday, Oct. 18, for a 7 p.m. match that will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra. Next Saturday, the Green and Gold heads to Northeastern for a 1 p.m. start on FloFC.
