Wilmington, NC - Cape Fear men's soccer got back to winning ways with an impressive 6-0 win over USC Sumter. Six different players scored for Cape Fear.
Cape Fear entered the game at 3-2, but looking to get a win after two straight losses. The USC Sumter Fire Ants entered with a record of 2-3, having yet to win a road game.
Despite the final score, the Sea Devils started off slowly, and it was the bench that ultimately changed the game.
Assistant coach Richard Yakubu praised the bench, stating, "We started off slow, but we got rolling as the game went on, and our subs contributed to that."
The first goal came in the 22nd minute, as Sea Devils leading scorer DaShaun Brown scored off an assist from Anthoney Garcia-Aguirre. The goal today gives Brown six on the season.
Dan Jacobo contributed off the bench, scoring the team's second just before halftime in the 41st minute.
The coaching staff had high praise for Jacobo. Assistant coaches Chris Harper and Yakubu noted that Jacobo was a spark off the bench. Coach Yakubu called him his man of the match, stating, "Players like Dan providing sparks off the bench helps us calm down and play our game."
Cape Fear took the 2-0 lead into halftime. It remained that way until the 63rd minute, when Alex Rodriguez scored on a solo effort to make it 3-0. The coaches had a lot of good things to say about Rodriguez as well. Coach Harper named him his top performer and praised his overall performance.
"He had a complete game and was very solid in his positioning," said Harper.
The team's fourth came in the 71st minute, as Franco Fernandez scored off an assist from Tyler Nelson.
The final two goals came back to back in the 81st and 82nd minutes, as Christian Vega scored with Nelson earning his second assist of the game, before Nelson scored a goal of his own thanks to a great pass from Eion Dockery a minute later.
Head coach C.W. Ponton was impressed with his team's effort and execution.
"This was a complete victory," said Ponton. "We executed the gameplan on offense and defense. We moved as a unit, and had six different goal scorers of the day."
Ponton pointed to the efforts of everyone involved with the team, praising the team's fitness to the those helping out in practice.
"This win came from every second of fitness with our trainers, to every player playing their role in practice, [and] even to our red shirt keeper. Everyone contributed to the win today."
Cape Fear had 28 shot attempts, with 10 on target. They limited USC Sumter's chances as well, as the fire ants had just 10 shot attempts and only two shots on goal. They also prevented Sumter from having a single corner kick.
The defensive effort was enough for Ponton to name them his top performers.
"While I love seeing six goals on the board, my preference is to always see zero on the other end. So I'll choose everyone in the back five tonight (Lucas Gusmao, Alex Degrassi, Eion Dockery, Logan Edwards, Eric Brewer, Esteban Clemente, and Victor Melo) for holding down the back line and getting the clean sheet."
The win snaps the two game losing streak, and improves Cape Fear to 4-2 on the season.
Their next game is Tuesday, September 26th, where they will hit the road to play Wake Tech Community College at 2:30 p.m.
Courtesy of Nick Denning
