Box Score The Maryville College men's soccer team used ninety-minutes of constant pressure to earn an upset victory as the No.5 seeded Scots defeated the No. 4 seeded Monarchs of Methodist University 2-1 in Fayetteville, North Carolina in the first round of the 2014 USA South Men's Soccer Championships on Saturday afternoon.
Maryville (11-5-1) got on the scoreboard first in the 35th minute when sophomore midfielder Thomas Palmer took a penalty kick and hit the back of the net. The Kingsport native's goal was his seventh of the season and gave the Scots a 1-0 lead going to the half.
The Scots took advantage of one of their only three corner kicks in the second half. In the 51st minute, Seth Douthat took a corner kick and snuck it past Monarch keeper Alex Rabone for his third goal of the season.
Leading 2-0, Methodist's Nahom Hargwoin scored an unassisted goal in the 85th minute to pull the Monarchs (13-3-1) within a goal.
Maryville's defense prevailed and the Scots secured the key road victory to advance to Martinsville, Virginia next weekend for the USA South semifinals.
"This was one of the grittiest performances ever by a Maryville team," stated Head Coach Pepe Fernandez. " Ben Munger was outstanding in goal and our boys put constant pressure on the ball all day. I am proud of the effort they gave today and look forward to our next challenge in the tournament."
The Scots will prepare to challenge to winner of the No.8 Ferrum vs No.1 Greensboro matchup on Friday, November 7th in Martinsville.
