NEWBERRY, S.C. – Head Coach Justin Cook and the Wolves welcomed an unfamiliar foe to Smith road Complex Saturday, October 8, as the Shaw University Bears came into town to take on Newberry. The Wolves, coming off an exciting match Wednesday against Coker University that ended in an 1-1 draw, would look to take all three points in the matchup as the season is wrapping up and conference tournament time is around the corner. Kicking off at 5 PM on a beautiful afternoon, the Wolves and Bears would be a match that both teams would be looking to take their chances and come away with a victory.
The Bears would get the action started right away as they would take their first shot at the beginning of the match, but they would also get the bookings started as they would earn a yellow card within the first three minutes of the match. Another shot at goal would be attempted for Shaw, but it would be saved by the goalkeeper before Newberry would attempt their first shot from freshman centerback Reece Kilpin (Sydney, Australia).
The match became possession-based as the first half went on, as both teams would try to formulate an attack through intricate passing and through counters whenever the opposition would track forward too far. That would exactly be the case for the Battlers as a counter towards the end of the first half would allow freshman winger Filip Tmusic (Centinje, Montenegro) to capitalize on the pass from Henok Awoke (Marietta, Ga.) to put the Wolves up one, with halftime approaching quickly. The goal would be Tmusic's second of the year as the Wolves would go into halftime with a lead.
Coming out of the gates for the second half, the Wolves knew that the Bears would be coming to equalize the score. Only being a goal up at the half, Newberry would have to solidify the defense and prepare for the offensive attack that would come from Shaw. The second half would get a little more chippy as both teams fought hard for the equalizer and insurance goal, respectively, resulting in early yellow cards for both teams.
Despite the fact that Newberry was up a goal, the attacking influence never wavered as the Wolves would look to add more goals on top of the first goal scored in the first half. Seven shots in the second half to the Bears' nine was all the indication needed for the focus for the Wolves offensively in the second half, but things got interesting towards the end of regulation.
A late penalty was awarded to the Bears with less than 10 minutes left in the match, and the Wolves would be threatened with a late scoring opportunity from Shaw. Unfortunately for the Bears, senior goalkeeper Pablo Cubas (Playa Del Hombre, Spain) has been in similar situations before, as he has earned a reputation for being a clutch penalty kick saver for his squad. With the anticipation at its peak, the PK from Shaw would go off the bottom left post and be cleared by the Wolves in order to preserve the lead for Newberry. A late yellow card would be issued to the home team, but it would not matter as the lead would be preserved and the Newberry College Wolves would leave the match with a victory.
Newberry Men's Soccer team will be back in action on the road against Tusculum on Saturday, October 15 for a meeting of South Atlantic Conference teams before returning to Smith Road Complex for another SAC meeting against Mars Hill on October 19.
