Thursday October 22nd
Marietta, GA
Southern
Poly came into today’s game with a record of 9-0-1, 4-0 in the SSAC
and with five clean sheets in their last five games. Their
opponents, Auburn Montgomery, would come up into today’s game 8-2-2
and with a 5-0 record in the SSAC.
Southern
Poly, in their short tenure, has yet to beat their conference
rivals, but today that would change. The Hornets came out gun’s
blazing and scored within two minutes. A great ball from Senior,
Felipe Lopez (9 assists for the season and SSAC assist leader),
found Freshmen, Emeka Maduka who slotted the ball past the keeper
for his 8th of the season. AUM looked to get back into
the match, but keeper Eric Ati looked superb in goals. He saved the
ball from AUM’s, Yuki Kariya, which looked liked it was going into
the top corner. There wasn’t much action for both sides the first
half, but Sophomore Kouami D’Almeida could have put his name on the
score sheet just before the half. Lopez ran down the right hand
side, cut the ball back, Maduka dummied the ball, but D’Almeida
could not find the back of the net.
The second half saw a recharged
Hornet’s pumped and ready to play. The second goal of the contest,
which proved to be the game winner, saw Chris Szalwinski pounce on
an un-cleared ball in the AUM penalty area. He then had the
delicate touch and skill to chip the cheaper with a header and put
the Hornets up 2-0. This was Szalwinski’s first collegiate goal.
The scoring was not done yet with Maduka finishing the game off in
style. He found a lose ball at the back, rounded the keeper, then
cut the ball back, and fired in off the far post. He scored two for
the day and was instrumental in the Hornets victory.
The Hornets romp was slightly hindered
at the end when a corner found AUM player,
Kristjan Sveinsson, who
notched the lone goal for AUM. The Hornets improved their record to
10-0-1 and 5-0 in the Conference.
“There were some key
performances today most noticeably from our forward Maduka and our
Keeper Ati. Today we really took our program to the next level.
I’m extremely proud of our program”, added Head coach Kom Momeni
after the game.
Senior,
Felipe Lopez gives a thumbs up to the crowd as they cheer on Chris
Szalwinski's game winner
photos available at
www.reactionimages.com
