GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Back home after a season-opening trip to Alabama, the Tusculum University men's soccer team will head back out for a pair of non-conference road matches this week.
The Pioneers (0-1-0) will visit Lees-McRae on Tuesday, Sept. 7 at 5 p.m. and travel to Lee for a 7 p.m. match on Saturday., Sept. 11.
Tusculum went to Mobile, Alabama to face Spring Hill College on Friday afternoon and dropped a 2-1 decision to the Badgers. Junior Levi Vasconcelos scored the lone goal for the Pioneers in the 71st minute, while junior Bruno De Freitas made three saves in his first action in goal.
RECAPPING THE WEEK
Spring Hill scored two first-half goals and held on for a 2-1 victory over in non-conference action Friday afternoon.
The Badgers built their 2-0 lead on goals from Matthew Moreno in the third minute and Luca Carrese in the 31st minute, but the Pioneers came on in the second half and pulled within 2-1 as Vasconcelos scored in the 71st minute. Each team finished with 12 shots, with Spring Hill holding a 10-2 edge in the first half and Tusculum returning the favor in the second half.
Vasconcelos was making his Tusculum debut after playing two seasons at Marshalltown Community College in Iowa, where he had two goals and four assists in 26 career matches (18 starts).
De Freitas, who was a teammate of Vasconcelos at Marshalltown in the fall of 2019, made all three of his saves in the first half as the Badgers packed in on defense to protect their halftime lead.
Junior Marc Caceres earned his first career assist on the goal by Vasconcelos, with a second assist awarded to sophomore Michele Di Miele. Both Caceres and Di Miele were among seven Pioneers who played all 90 minutes in the opener.
The lone freshman to take the field for the Pioneers in the opener was Carson Anderson, who had an 11-minute run in the second half and was on the field for Tusculum's goal.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Lees-McRae (0-0-1) played to a 2-2 draw with Clayton State on the road. Johannes Oeksnevad scored both goals for the Bobcats, including the tying goal with 4:40 remaining. The Lakers outshot the Bobcats 23-11 and had a 10-1 advantage in corner kicks, but Joshua Garvilla finished with eight saves for Lees-McRae.
The Bobcats scored just four goals in eight matches during the abbreviated 2021 spring season, en route to a 1-7 overall record. Midfielders Zach Aversano (two assists) and Marco Medeiros (one assist) are the only players on this fall's roster who registered a point during the spring.
Tusculum leads the all-time series with Lees-McRae 15-6-1, including a 2-0 win in their last meeting during the 2019 season.
Lee (1-0-0) traveled to Carson-Newman to open its season Thursday evening and defeated the Eagles 3-1. Mattia Balzano and Jeremy Bischoff scored 84 seconds apart early in the first half, and Fabian Navarro closed the scoring with 11 seconds left. The Flames outshot the Eagles 10-5 in a match that featured 39 fouls.
The Flames, who play North Georgia at home on Tuesday night, were 1-2-2 during the spring season, with a win and two ties in their three conference matches. Tusculum beat Lee 2-1 in their last visit in 2018, which gave the Pioneers a 7-6 edge in the all-time series.
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.
