Harrogate, TN – The Lincoln Memorial men's soccer team falls short in a close match to the North Georgia Nighthawks 0-1 Sunday afternoon.
North Georgia wasn't slow to start taking shots, as their first chance of the match came just four minutes in the match, which gave Daniel Benedek Miklosi his first save of the day. 12 minutes later, the Railsplitters produced their first scoring opportunity as Ronan O'Mahony Blondel took a shot, wide, followed by an UNG shot two minutes later, high. In the 26th minute, LMU took their second shot of the afternoon as Gian-Carlo Kama shoots a high shot, and Enrique Martin registered a shot in the 32nd minute, also high. The Nighthawks were able to get their attacking third and put off a shot in the 37th minute, wide. O'Mahony Blondel responds with wide shot in the 42nd minute, followed by a UNG shot in the 44th minute that hits the crossbar. As both teams had high chances to score late in the half, the teams went into halftime still scoreless 0-0.
Going into the second half, the Railsplitters had four shots, one save, and one corner kick opportunity.
The first seven minutes of the second half were quiet, as the first shot of the second half didn't come until the 52nd minute when O'Mahony Blondel put a shot on frame, saved by the UNG goalkeeper. North Georgia followed that by taking a shot not even a minute ater in the 53rd minute. The Nighthawks keep pushing offensively as they put off two more shots: one in the 55th minute, saved by Miklosi, and one in the 56th minute, hitting the crossbar. The Railsplitters were able to get across the field into their offensive half and take a chance on goal, as Botond Skulka takes a shot in the 59th minute, high, with Colin Clark getting a shot off minutes later in the 62nd minute, saved by the goalkeeper. Possession juggled as each team took shots back and forth, as UNG produced a shot in the 66th minute and Skulka registered a shot in the 68th minute. Despite the back-and-forth action, the Railsplitters stood strong as Kama recorded a shot on goal in the 76th minute. In the midst of the battle between the two teams, a goal was put on the board as UNG's Mitchell gets the ball in the back of the net in the 78th minute to make the score 1-0. Even though now falling behind, Lincoln Memorial still puts up a fight as Martin gets a shot off in the 83rd minute. With that being the last scoring opportunity for LMU, the Railsplitters fall to North Georgia 0-1.
O'Mahony Blondel and Martin led with three shots, with O'Mahony Blondel getting one shot on goal. Kama and Skulka followed with two shots, and Clark rounded out the offensive efforts with one shot and one shot on goal. Miklosi played 90 minutes in goal and had 4 saves on the day.
As a team, they tied UNG with shots as they both had 11, while upping the Nighthawks in saves and corners with four and six, respectively.
With the loss, LMU moves to 0-2 on the season.
Lincoln Memorial will look ahead as they start conference play in Hickory, NC on September 11th as they face Lenoir-Rhyne at 3 pm.
