HARTSVILLE, S.C. – The Anderson University men's soccer team picked up a big 2-1 win on Wednesday (Nov. 3) against the Coker University Cobras in a thrilling overtime victory.
Tonight's game had big implications on the upcoming South Atlantic Conference tournament, with both the Cobras and Trojans fighting to clinch a postseason berth. It was the Cobras who came out and controlled the first half of play, scoring late in the 41st minute to take a 1-0 lead into halftime.
However, Anderson was able to flip the script in the second half. The Trojans outshot the Cobras 10 to five, with the equalizing goal coming in the 63rd minute when Eloy Allimadi connected with Santiago Arce Alvarez on a header. Perhaps the moment of the match came with less than 30 seconds remaining in regulation, when top goal scorer for Coker Jacques Fokam-Sandeu broke past the Trojan defense for a one on one scoring opportunity, but goalkeeper Gal Elyashiv was there for a big diving save to keep the score at 1-1 going into overtime.
Anderson carried that momentum into the first overtime period. In the 97th minute, Alexandre Cox-Ashwood found some space in the attacking third, and played a beautiful ball to Eloy Allmadi for the match-clinching goal.
With the win, the Trojans clinched the fourth seed in the SAC tournament, giving them the opportunity to host a quarterfinal match against Queens on Saturday. Before tonight's match, Anderson was ranked ninth in the latest NCAA Super Region 2 rankings. For the SAC, Limestone was fifth and Lenoir-Rhyne tabbed ninth.
"Great win for the boys and our program tonight against a top team," said coach Michael Zion. "The effort they put into the game to fight back from being a goal down and then push on to win it was incredible. We will look to keep this momentum going into quarterfinals."
The Trojans will be back in action on Saturday (Nov. 6) as they play host to Queens for the SAC Tournament Quarterfinals. The game is scheduled to start at 7:00 P.M. with video and live stats available at www.autrojans.com.
