GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Andre De Giorgi scored twice in the first half to help Tusculum College defeat King University 4-2 in a non-conference men's soccer match Saturday night at Pioneer Field.
Andre De Giorgi Interview | Coach Vital Interview
Dallas Dunn had a goal and an assist for the Pioneers and Andreas Kvam also netted a goal as the Pioneers (1-0-0) opened their season by outshooting the Tornado (0-2-0) by a 14-7 margin.
De Giorgi scored on a penalty kick in the 28th minute and on a header 11 1/2 minutes later to help the Pioneers erase a 1-0 deficit. Dunn scored in the 73rd minute to extend the Tusculum advantage to 3-1, but King responded less than three minutes later to cut the margin to 3-2. Kvam then netted an insurance goal nearly two minutes later to close out the scoring in the 78th minute.
King took a 1-0 lead on its first shot on goal in the 19th minute. A corner kick was directed back to Ryan Murphy, who shot toward the goal was deflected and corralled by Nick Boegemann, who drilled a shot past Tusculum keeper Jorge Alvarez.
The Pioneers leveled the score at 27:13 as Dunn was knocked down in the box and a penalty was called against the Tornado. De Giorgi stepped up and rifled a shot past King keeper Kari Sveinsson to knot the match at 1-1.
In the 39th minute, De Giorgi came through again for the Pioneers as he headed home a cross from Dunn for his second goal in a span of 11 1/2 minutes, giving Tusculum its first lead at 2-1.
The lead would stand through halftime and into the second half, when Dunn came through in the 73rd minute as he took a long service from Isai Hernandez, split two defenders and beat Sveinsson for a 3-1 Pioneer lead. However, King would come back less than three minutes later as Luis Calderon put home a header off a feed from Michael Young to trim the margin to 3-2.
Tusculum came right back nearly two minutes later, as Kvam collected a cross from Georgios Charkoutsakis and fired a shot off the crossbar and into the goal. The tally at 77:16 extended the Pioneer lead to 4-2, and the defense would not allow another shot on frame as Tusculum came away with the victory in its season opener.
The teams were whistled for 35 fouls in the match, with each side shown one yellow card. Tusculum had a 5-3 edge in corner kicks over King, and put 11 of its 14 shot attempts on goal. Tusculum's Alvarez faced seven shots from King in the match, while the Tornado's Sveinsson had seven saves on 14 attempts by the Pioneers.
Tusculum will return to action Wednesday night at 7 p.m. with a non-conference match at Lees-McRae.
