GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum University men's soccer team faces its toughest test to date when the Pioneers venture to Coker University to face the fourth-ranked Cobras on Saturday. Match time from Hartsville, South Carolina is 2:30 p.m.
The Pioneers (1-3-1, 0-1-1 SAC) played their home opener on Sunday against Mars Hill and were defeated by a 4-2 score, after playing Lincoln Memorial to a scoreless draw in their league opener last Wednesday.
Saturday's match will begin a stretch of three consecutive away contests for the Pioneers, who will next play at home on Saturday, Oct. 9 against Newberry. Seven of the Pioneers' first eight matches, including four of their first five conference tilts, are on the road.
RECAPPING THE WEEK
Tusculum and Lincoln Memorial played to a 0-0 deadlock Wednesday afternoon, despite the Pioneers outshooting the Railsplitters by a 20-9 margin. The match was halted twice due to weather and finished in a steady rain. The Pioneers played their first 0-0 tie since Oct. 13, 2018 at Anderson as junior keeper Bruno De Freitas had one save for his first clean sheet as a member of the Pioneers.
Four different players scored goals for Mars Hill on Sunday in a 4-2 win over Tusculum at Pioneer Field. The Pioneers received goals from junior forward Ignacio Alconchel and senior defender Rodrigo Pascual in the second half, but could not overcome a 2-0 halftime deficit to the Lions. Mars Hill had just nine shots in the match but scored twice in each half against Tusculum, which had 10 shots as a team.
PROFILING THE PIONEERS
Alconchel has scored four of the Pioneers' seven goals on a team-high 16 shot attempts. He is seventh in the conference with four goals and points with eight. Sharing the team lead in assists are sophomore midfielder Michele Di Miele and sophomore forward Jean-Pierre Vital with two apiece. Damien Baltide, who led Tusculum with three goals and three assists in the spring season, is looking for his first point of the fall campaign despite ranking second on the team with 10 shots through five matches.
De Freitas has played all 470 minutes in goal for the Pioneers, and ranks 11th in the SAC in goals against average at 2.30 and eighth in save percentage at .647. Half of his 22 saves came in Tusculum's 4-2 win over Lees-McRae on Sept. 7.
As a team, the Pioneers rank ninth in the SAC in goals per game at 1.40. Tusculum has equaled or surpassed its opponents in shot attempts three times in five games, but are 0-2-1 in those contests.
Coker is the highest-ranked opponent that Tusculum has faced since playing at fourth-ranked Young Harris on Sept. 11, 2019. The Pioneers lost that game by a score of 5-0, and have not defeated a top-five team since beating second-ranked Carson-Newman 3-0 in the NCAA Appalachian Region final on Nov. 14, 2004. The Pioneers have lost nine straight to top-five teams and are 0-6-2 against ranked teams since beating sixth-ranked Pfeiffer 3-2 in overtime on Sept. 28, 2016.
SCOUTING THE COBRAS
Coker (6-0-0, 1-0-0 SAC) remained undefeated with a 2-1 win at Mount Olive on Tuesday, behind first-half goals from junior defender Colin Serredszum and senior midfielder Jonathan Partlow. Freshman goalkeeper Jasper Rump made four saves and conceded only a penalty kick goal in the second half to help the Cobras to their sixth straight win.
On Saturday, the Cobras beat Lincoln Memorial 1-0 in their SAC opener as sophomore forward Luca Leonini scored the only goal with 8:11 left in the second half, and the Coker defense kept LMU without a shot on goal in the second half despite playing the final seven minutes a man down. Coker outshot LMU 28-11 with Rump collecting two saves for the shutout.
Leading the Coker offense is junior forward Jacques Fokam-Sandeu, who has five goals and an assist for 11 points. Nine different players have scored a goal for the Cobras, who are tied for fourth in the conference in goals per game at 2.33. Coker has allowed just five goals in six matches, with Rump second in the conference in goals against average and third in save percentage (.800).
After going winless in the spring at 0-5-1, Coker entered the national rankings at 15th two weeks ago after wins over Chowan and Belmont Abbey. The Cobras beat Erskine and Francis Marion to climb to seventh last week, then moved up to fourth this week following their win over Lincoln Memorial.
The Pioneers have won two straight over the Cobras, including a 5-2 win in their last meeting in 2019 which gave Tusculum a 5-3 lead 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.
