GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum University men's soccer team will look to return to the win column as the Pioneers host Newberry University in their only match of the week on Saturday, Oct. 9 at Pioneer Field. Kickoff is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.
The Pioneers (1-6-1, 0-4-1 SAC) have dropped four straight matches and are winless (0-5-1) in their last six outings since a 4-2 win at Lees-McRae on Sept. 7. Last week, Tusculum was shut out twice with losses at Carson-Newman on Wednesday (1-0) and at Anderson on Saturday (3-0).
Tusculum will be playing just its second home match of the 2021 season when Newberry visits on Saturday. Four of the Pioneers' final six contests will be played at Pioneer Field.
RECAPPING THE WEEK
On Wednesday, Tusculum just missed scoring the tying goal in the final seconds as Carson-Newman escaped with a 1-0 victory. The Pioneers nearly tied the match with 10 seconds left on a corner kick, but two Carson-Newman defenders combined to sweep the ball away from the goal line before it clearly crossed and preserved the win for the Eagles. Carson-Newman outshot Tusculum 17-7 in the match, as Pioneer keeper Rayane El Mehdi made five saves in his first career start and the Tusculum defense prevented two goals by clearing the ball off their own goal line.
Saturday night, Alexandre Cox-Ashwood scored two goals to lead Anderson to a 3-0 victory over Tusculum. The Trojans outshot the Pioneers by a 16-3 margin, with junior keeper Bruno De Freitas making five saves in goal for Tusculum.
PROFILING THE PIONEERS
Tusculum has gone 182 minutes, 28 seconds since its last goal, which came from junior forward Ignacio Alconchel against Coker on Sept. 25. The Pioneers have been shut out four times during their six-match winless streak, while being outscored by the opposition 15-3 over that stretch. Tusculum, which is next-to-last in the conference in shot attempts per match (10.1), have had a total of 10 shot attempts in their last two matches.
Alconchel continues to lead the Pioneers in goals (five), points (10), shot attempts (22) and shots on goal (nine). His five goals are seventh in the conference while his 10 points rank ninth in the league. De Freitas has a 2.49 goals against average and a .633 save percentage for the Pioneers, ranking fifth in the SAC with 31 total saves.
SCOUTING THE WOLVES
Newberry (1-8-0, 1-3-0 SAC) opened the season with six straight losses before earning a 3-2 overtime win over Lincoln Memorial on Sept. 25. The Wolves are 0-5 on the road and have been outscored 14-2, including a 2-0 loss at Wingate on Saturday. In the win over LMU, the Wolves scored twice in the final 14 minutes to force overtime before Tre Bonaparte scored midway through the first extra period.
Newberry, which hosts Coker on Wednesday, has scored seven goals in its nine matches, coming from seven different players. Junior goalkeeper Pablo Cubas has started eight matches, and ranks second in the SAC With 41 saves to go along with a 2.71 goals against average.
The Pioneers have never lost to the Wolves, going 18-0-3 since 1998 including a 2-1 overtime win on the road during the 2019 season.
FOLLOW THE PIONEERS
Live stats and video are available for all home Tusculum University men's soccer matches. Links to stats and video for home and away matches are available at tusculumpioneers.com.
