NEWBERRY - The Newberry men's soccer team defeated the Bulldogs of Wingate University 2-1 tonight at the Newberry Soccer Complex.  The win, which came on the Indians' home opener, moves Newberry to 1-1-0 on the season and 1-0 in South Atlantic Conference play.  Despite being out shot 20-6, the Indians were able to capitalize on several key scoring opportunities.  However, they also produced some narrow misses on several other scoring occasions. 

Although both teams struggled to put anything together early in the first half, the Indians took advantage first.  The Newberry score came after senior Troy Pinckney (Mt. Pleasant, S.C.) fired a shot attempt that got deflected into the sight of freshman midfielder Wallace Winkler (North Augusta, S.C.) who put the ball home in the 11th minute.  The early goal gave the Indians a huge advantage, but all thoughts of a one goal cushion came to a grinding halt less than a minute later when Wingate's Barry Wilson (Doraville, Ga.) netted a ball just to the right of Newberry keeper Bryan Linn (Safety Harbor, Fla.).  The Bulldog goal came off of a double assist via crosses from senior midfielder Travis Myernick (Thornton, Colo.) and sophomore midfielder James Lavery (Belfast, Northern Ireland) in the 12th minute.

The Indians had another excellent opportunity to score in the 19th minute when Bulldog keeper Brian Noell (Hickory, N.C.) came off his line.  After a Wingate defender dropped down to apply pressure, Pinckney was unable to hit the open net.  Wingate, who falls to 1-3 overall and 0-1 in SAC play, had a few other chances to score during the remainder of the half but the Newberry defenders did a good job of dropping back to support the midfield. 

The second half started off with a bang for Newberry as freshman forward Michael Cotton (Clemson, S.C.) smashed a 46th minute header into the diving arms of Noell, who tallied two saves on the game.  Minutes later, a sliding tackle inside the Wingate box resulted in a loose ball which Indian defender Tyler Haladay (Irmo, S.C.) promptly cleaned up into the net.  The goal, Haladay's first collegiate score, came in the 50th minute. 

Ten minutes into the half, the Indians continued to create scoring opportunities including a near miss header by senior defender Miles Childers (Casper, Wyo.).  At this point, Newberry started to gain control by keeping the Bulldog defenders off balance.  Wingate got off a few weak shots in the last ten minutes of play, but were unable to produce any real scoring threats at the end of the game.  In a frenzy to get the equalizer, Wingate made Newberry freshman keeper Will Dieterich (Tampa, Fla.) earn every inch as they pounded him with two shots on goal.  Dieterich, who entered the game with 20 minutes remaining, came up with three big saves while starter Linn recorded seven. 

When asked what he thought of the game, Newberry head coach Sam Okpodu had this to say:  “It was absolutely awesome.  If we're going to have a chance to play in this conference, the effort has to be there.  Today, the effort was definitely there.  We're going to take it a game at a time, but the effort has to be there like it was today.  It was incredible.  If we can continue to do that, we will have the opportunity to play in the conference championship.”

Next up for the Indians is a match-up against the NSCAA/adidas coaches' poll No. 1 ranked Tusculum College Pioneers on September 11.  The game is slated for 4 p.m. at Tusculum.  Wingate stays on the road as they travel to Wheeling Jesuit (W. Va.) for a 2 p.m. match on September 10.