WILSON, N.C. --- Pedro Concheso scored a pair of goals in the second half as part of a three-goal surge that lifted Tusculum University to a 3-0 win over Barton College in non-conference men's soccer action Saturday afternoon.
J-P Vital also scored for the Pioneers (2-0-0), who have won their first two games of the season for the first time since 2018. Tusculum has also won its first two away matches of the season for the first time since 2016.
With the victory, Tusculum head coach Allen Vital became the 15th active Division II coach to reach 250 career wins, and the 42nd all-time at the Division II level. Vital, in his 13th season at his alma mater after 14 years at Carson-Newman, is 250-174-48 in 27 seasons as a college head coach.
Fittingly, on the day Vital reached his coaching milestone, his sons would factor into each of the Pioneers' first two goals. J-P's goal in the 49th minute gave Tusculum a 1-0 lead, and Devin assisted on the first goal by Concheso six minutes later to push the Pioneers in front 2-0.
After being outplayed by the Bulldogs in the first half, the Pioneers poured on a pressure in the second half as they took eight of their nine shots after intermission while holding the Bulldogs (0-1-1) to just two shots on goal in the second half. Barton finished the match with a 14-9 edge in shot attempts, but Nicolas Leite finished with four saves for Tusculum for his second straight shutout.
The Bulldogs had the first shot of the match in the third minute, but a header by Immanuel Akpeme off a corner kick was well wide of the target. The first shot on goal came in the 18th minute as Leite came off his line nearly 20 yards to play a loose ball, then scrambled back to smother a shot attempt by the Bulldogs' Nico Rocksien.
Barton's best chance of the first half came on a free kick in the 24th minute from just over 25 yards out by Gabriel Slemer, but his attempt soared over the fingertips of Leite and slammed off the crossbar. Tusculum put its first shot on target in the 26th minute as Ludvig Radberg moved within 20 yards but was forced by the Barton defense to roll an attempt to Bulldog keeper Steingrimur Gunnarsson.
Barton kept up the pressure and nearly converted a loose ball in the box off a free kick, but the attempt by Alfie Mattocks went over the target. In the 33rd minute, Zeph Rico-Jaramillo broke down the right side but was stopped by Leite on a low middle shot attempt.
Rico-Jaramillo would also misfire to the left on a turning shot from 20 yards in the 41st minute, and Hayden Summerfield nearly converted a turnover into a goal in the 42nd minute but fired high from 25 yards straight on. Barton would end the first half with a 9-1 shot advantage over Tusculum.
The Pioneers would take a 1-0 lead on the first shot of the second half, as Ndubueze Henry carried down the right side and fired a perfect cross to J-P Vital who buried the goal at 48:27. It was the first goal for Vital since the first game of his collegiate career in the spring of 2021, having missed parts of the last two seasons due to injury.
After Cristobal Morales just missed to the far post from 20 yards in the 51st minute, the Tusculum lead would expand to 2-0 at 54:32 as Concheso collected a short pass in the box from Devin Vital at 10 yards and beat Gunnarsson to the far post. The goal was the second of Concheso's career, with the first against Newberry during the 2021 season.
Leite would be tested for the first time in the second half in the 59th minute as Barton's Luis Weber corralled a through ball 15 yards out, but fired a shot that the Pioneer keeper batted down at eye level. On the ensuing run, Tusculum's Artur Marques put a shot on goal from 20 yards that was collected by Gunnarsson.
The Pioneers would stretch their lead to 3-0 at 74:53 as an attempted cross in the box came back to Marques on the right side, and his cross was volleyed home by Concheso for his second of the day. Gui Busato would bid for a fourth goal for the Pioneers in the 82nd minute, but his blast from 20 yards straight away was gathered in by Gunnarsson.
Barton nearly spoiled the clean sheet bid by Leite with just over five minutes to play as Weber put home a rebound off a saved shot from Rico-Jaramillo, but was ruled to have been offsides.
Gunnarsson finished with three saves for the Bulldogs, who had a 4-0 advantage in corner kicks over the Pioneers. Barton was whistled for 14 fouls to 12 by Tusculum, while three of the four cautions in the match were shown to the Pioneers.
Tusculum will bid for its first 3-0 start since opening the 2016 season with 12 straight victories when the Pioneers visit King on Wednesday, Sept. 6 at 4 p.m. Just like Tusculum, King has already equaled its 2022 victory total as the Tornado began 2023 with road victories over Shorter (2-1) and Emory & Henry (3-0).
