HICKORY, N.C. - Head coach Sam Okpodu's first season at the helm of the Newberry men's soccer program could only be categorized as a success entering Saturday's match between South Atlantic Conference rival Lenoir-Rhyne.  

So far this season we've seen the Indians knock of two regionally ranked teams, and play a national top ten team to a draw. However, after the Indians 1-0 victory of the Bears and the first SAC win of Okpodu's career, the season got that much better.  The Indians move to 7-4-2 overall, and 1-2-1 in the SAC play, as the Indians also marked their first conference win of the season. 

The lone goal of the match came at the 21:10 mark of the match courtesy of Newberry's Edsel Rudder (Port-of-Spain, Trinidad).  Rudder received a pass from Chad Domis (Columbia, S.C.) outside the box and shot a fantastic ripper past Lenoir-Rhyne freshman goalkeeper Jonathanc Sandlin (The Rock, Ga./Upson-Lee HS) for the score.

The Bears had several opportunities to tie but were denied by the Newberry defense and the outstanding play of Indian goalkeeper Bryan Linn (Safety Harbor, Fla.)  Linn picked up the shutout to go along with eight saves including a desperation block off a shot by senior midfielder Blake Powell (Gastonia, N.C./South Point HS) with a minute to go in the match that preserved the win. 

Newberry is back in action at the friendly confines of the Newberry Soccer Complex Monday afternoon, as they take on SAC member Mars Hill at 4:30 p.m.