Doumbe, Osorio score, Geno extends records

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Oct. 19, 2012) – Seniors Franck Doumbe (Silver Spring, Md.) and Alesi Osorio (Austin, Texas) each scored as part of a three-goal second half, leading the ETSU men’s soccer team past Northern Kentucky, 3-0, on Friday night at Summers-Taylor Stadium.

Doumbe and Osorio joined junior David Geno (Kingsport, Tenn.) as the game’s three goal scorers. Geno extended his ETSU (8-5-2, 4-1-0 A-Sun) single-season goals record with his 11th to put the Buccaneers ahead in the 52nd minute, while Doumbe and Osorio added on to give Northern Kentucky (5-8-2, 2-1-1 A-Sun) its first taste of defeat in Atlantic Sun play.

“It wasn’t a fantastic first half, but we put together a great response in the second half,” ETSU head coach Scott Calabrese said. “There was some great play, we looked dangerous at times and we defended well. It was a good, complete performance, especially in the second half.

“More importantly, we said goodbye to six seniors. These are guys that helped us to our championship two years ago, that continue to help us be successful, and they will be missed.”

Doumbe, Osorio, Matt Reed (Murfreesboro, Tenn.), Theo Yang (Lilburn, Ga.), Colin Pugh (Dublin, Ireland) and David Haba (Germantown, Tenn.) were honored pregame as the Buccaneers’ senior class of 2012. Five of the six stepped on the field Friday night – Pugh sidelined with an injury – and performed magnificently to lead the ETSU back into a tie for first place with Mercer (4-0-0) in the Atlantic Sun standings.

Friday night’s first half was not nearly as eventful as the second. The Buccaneers certainly started slower than they did last Saturday against Lipscomb – scoring in the first 24 seconds of that game – finding just five shots to NKU’s two. In fact, ETSU’s first attempt of the game didn’t come until 20 minutes in, when Geno headed his first of a game-high five attempts wide left.

Six minutes after halftime, the Atlantic Sun’s leading goal scorer found the back of the net to put ETSU on top. Osorio made a nice run up the left side of the field, and played Geno ahead with a through ball that skirted past a couple of Norse defenders. Geno caught up to the pass, and beat keeper A.J. Fleak with a shot back to the right post.

Geno’s goal seemed to open the flood gates. Five minutes after ETSU took the lead, Doumbe scored his second of the year to extend the lead to two. This time, it was Geno who did the assisting, sending a low cross through from near the right corner that hit Doumbe in stride a couple of yards away from the left post.

Osorio then put the game away with his third score of the year. The Buccaneer senior played a ball from the top-right corner of the penalty area to Geno inside the box. Geno saw Osorio making a run after the pass, and back-heeled the ball to the Austin native who squeaked a shot between Fleak and the right post.

Following the score, Toby Frohlich came on to replace Fleak in goal.

The Buccaneers hit the road for their final three games of the regular season. That stretch begins next weekend in Florida, where ETSU will face Florida Gulf Coast on Friday and Stetson on Sunday.

ETSU Notes

- David Geno scored his A-Sun-leading 11th goal of the season, and also had two assists to total four points. His goals (11), assists (7) and points (29) totals are all new ETSU single-season records.

- Geno becomes just the second Buccaneer to record two assists in a game. Mohammad Bowers was the other to do so, tallying two on Oct. 27, 2010 in a, 4-1, win against USC Upstate.

- Franck Doumbe scored his second goal of the season and fourth of his two-year Buccaneer career.

- Alesi Osorio scored his third goal of the season and ninth of his ETSU career. Osorio also made his 68th career start, tying him with Aaron Schoenfeld for the most in school history.

- ETSU improves to 6-1-1 at home this year, and 25-10-7 all-time at Summers-Taylor Stadium.

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