Calumet Match Report

By Josh Riccardi

Montreat College's Men's Soccer team won its third consecutive match with a 5-0 thumping of Calumet College of St. Joseph in a match played in Black Mountain at Owen High School on Saturday, September 11. The rain kept most of the fans indoors, but those that showed up got to see a flurry of Montreat goals as the Cavaliers improved their record to 4-1 on the young season.

Freshman Maximiliano Viera of Montevideo, Uruguay, started the scoring in the 6^th minute of the game when senior midfielder Brandon Rodeman found senior midfielder Javier Cuellar, who then found Viera with a through ball into space; Viera needed only a quick touch before he managed to put the ball past the keeper at the near post.

In the 30^th minute of the game, Viera displayed great field vision to find Freshman Cody LaBelle of Hendersonville, NC, streaking down the right sideline.  LaBelle stretched out, diving for the ball to prevent it from crossing the goal line and sending in a cross to freshman Brandon Hageman who converted the great cross easily.  The 2-0 scoreline held until halftime.

Head Coach Brenton Benware saw his Montreat defense come out a little shaky to begin the 2^nd half, but the defense parried each Calumet attack.  The second half was a fast-paced, back-and-forth game until Montreat sealed the victory behind Javier Cuellar's goal.  The sophomore midfielder from El Salvador received the ball from Viera off a give-and-go in the midfield, dribbled past two defenders, then finally fired a shot from 25 yards which the goalkeeper could not touch. Cuellar's thrilling run and well-placed shot established a 3-0 Cavaliers lead with 11 minutes left in the game.

Two minutes later, junior midfielder Rafael Leo Velasquez of Honduras found LaBelle speeding down the right side of the field; LaBelle in turn crossed the ball to Jamaican forward Leonard Walker, who dribbled past one defender before blasting a shot past the hapless keeper from six yards out.

Three minutes later, sophomore forward Paul Connell tapped in an unassisted goal after he controlled a Walker shot that caromed off the post.

After five matches in 2009, the men's team was languishing with a 1-4 record and a goal differential of -10, having scored 8 and yielded 10, before rebounding to finish with a final 9-9-1 record. At the same point this season, Benware's lads have a 4-1 record and have outscored their opponents 13-3. Matters get more serious quickly as the Cavaliers travel this Saturday, September 18, to Dayton, TN to face Bryan College in the first Appalachian Athletic Conference match of the year for both teams. The Lions are 3-1-1 after pounding Asbury University 7-0 on Saturday.