by Kimothy Jones
DEMOREST, GA. – After suffering a defeat at the hands of Maryville the day prior, the William Peace men's soccer team tried to tame the Piedmont Lions this afternoon. The Pacers produced a slightly better effort but the same results as they fell, 5-1.
"Much better effort today out of the men," said head coach Zane Hill. "Good defensive pressure and overall attitude, and we saw some good things out of players who were able to log more minutes and able to show their ability in different positions. Some of the guys really are coming into their own and stepping up."
The Pacers had nine shots on goal but could only covert one of them into a score. Joel Hall scored unassisted in the 61st minute which actually tied the game, 1-1, as his shot deflected off the goalie and a defender before finding the back of the net.
"Joel made a hard run and was at the right place at the right time to earn the goal," Hill added.
Despite leading just 1-0 at the half and relinquishing their lead on Hall's goal, Piedmont was much more successful in the second as the Robert Herbert scored two goals ten minutes apart in the 63rd and 73rd minutes. His first goal was assisted by Vincent Thomas, and the second was unassisted. Cole Little finished off Piedmonts scoring with a goal assisted by Matthew Metzger in the 83rd minute.
"In the second half they were just able to capitalize," explained Hill. "After a key injury to our back line, they scored minutes later and we couldn't stop the bleeding,"
WPU (2-4, 0-2 USA) has a week to prepare for their next set of conference games next weekend and hope to tighten things up during their non-conference match with Chowan on Tuesday.
"Plugging players into the right spots who show promise and consistency is something we hope will result in some positive outcomes going forward," said Hill.
The Pacers face Chowan Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. before returning to Wake MedSoccer Park next Saturday to host their first ever USA South match against LaGrange . Kick-off is at 2:00 PM.
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