GWU Upends Upstate at Coastal Carolina Classic
Conway, S.C. – George Washington scored in the 39th-minute and withheld a late Spartan rally as the Colonials took a 1-0 victory over USC Upstate in the Coastal Carolina Classic Sunday afternoon. Spartans John Kadane and Kareem Richardsonwere named to the All-Tournament team.
Upstate fell to 2-3-0 on the year, losing both games of the Coastal Carolina Classic. The Spartans dropped the tournament opener against 16th-ranked Virginia Commonwealth on Friday. The Spartans will take six days off from competition before hosting VMI next Sunday at County University Soccer Stadium. George Washington improved to 1-2-1 with the win.
The teams battled pretty evenly throughout the first half, but George Washington was able to take advantage of its opportunities to get off seven shots to Upstate's one. One of those shots found the back of the net in the 39th-minute and it turned out to be the match winner.
Andrew Aluko had control of the ball on the right side close to the corner and played a cross to the near post. Alex Sandland was there to put a header to the left side of the goal into the open net to give the Colonials a 1-0 lead.
The teams went into halftime with George Washington leading 1-0.
The second half was much like the first, but Upstate turned up the heat on the offensive end of things late in the game. With George Washington looking to hold on for the win, Upstate was able to get off two solid scoring chances.
The first scoring opportunity came when Dylan Hoop (Cincinnati, Ohio) was played a lead pass and initially beat his defender and was one-on-one with the keeper. However, the defender recovered enough to make Hoop move left and he wasn't able to get enough power on his shot which was saved by GWU's Alejandro Almodovar. The second came when Jan Weinholt took the ball with space inside the box, but his shot was saved as well.
George Washington led in shots, taking 12 to Upstate's three in the match. Five of the GWU shots were on goal, while Upstate placed two of its three shots on frame.
"I thought we battled much harder in the second half," said Upstate head coach Greg Hooks. "We may not have had the most skilled players in there in the second half, but we had the guys in there who wanted to battle and play hard. Some of our guys need to be much more urgent for the entire match.
"We give away goals that are soft and we just can't do that. We didn't score a goal in two games this weekend. When you don't score, the best you can hope for is a tie and we weren't able to do that this weekend. We are going to have to work on being able to score."
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