FLORENCE SC – Sophomore forward Alex Blandin scored his fourth goal in three matches and freshman George Kartsimaris added an insurance score with three seconds left to carry Francis Marion University to a 2-0 upset of 21st-ranked University of Montevallo, Saturday afternoon (Oct. 15) in Peach Belt Conference men’s soccer action.

Francis Marion (3-9-1, 1-3-1) is now 2-0-1 in its last three contests and has allowed only one score over those 270 minutes.  FMU will play host to Limestone College on Wednesday at 4 p.m. in the program’s annual Passionately Pink for the Cure match to help raise funds for and awareness of breast cancer.

Blandin took a through ball from freshman Igor Souza and beat Montevallo goalkeeper Brendan Ledgeway with a shot to the near post at the 22:07 mark.  The Shreveport, La., native has six goals in 13 matches this year.

The Falcons (8-3-3, 4-1-1) threatened to tie the score on a corner kick in the final two minutes of the first stanza, but a header from Ricky Davey was cleared off the goal line by FMU defender Leonardo Chaves.

Montevallo continued to push forward in the second half looking for the equalizing goal.  The Falcons tallied eight shots and nine corner kicks over the final 45 minutes, but were unable to get the ball past FMU freshman goalkeeper Nick Lucido and the Patriot backline.

Kartsimaris finished the scoring when he beat a Falcon defender to a loose ball in the final minute and dribbled past reserve goalkeeper Jonathan Hilton and curled a 10-yard shot into the netting.  It was his second goal of 2011.

For the match, Montevallo outshot Francis Marion 14-8 and led 12-1 in corner kicks.

Lucido finished with four saves en route to his third career shutout, while Ledgeway registered two saves in 86 minutes of action.

Francis Marion Univ. (3-9-1, 1-3-1) def. #21 Univ. of Montevallo (8-3-3 , 4-1-1) 2-0
Date: Oct 15, 2011  Attendance: 67
Weather: Sunny, 68 degrees

Goals by period            1  2  Tot
------------------------------------
Univ. of Montevallo.  0  0 -  0
Francis Marion Univ.  1  1 -  2

SCORING SUMMARY:
1-0.  22:07 FMU Blandin, Alex (6) (Souza, Igor) - Through ball to Blandin,beat keeper near post
2-0.  89:57 FMU Kartsimaris, George (2) (unassisted) - won free ball, juked gk,10 yard chip

Shots: Univ. of Montevallo 14, Francis Marion Univ. 8
Saves: Univ. of Montevallo 2 (Ledgeway, Brendan 2 ; Hilton, Jonathan 0), Francis Marion Univ. 5 (Lucido, Nick 4; TEAM 1)

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