WILSON, N.C. (Oct. 4) – Junior
Guilherme Semola scored a late-game equalizer on Wednesday night, as the Trojans battled to a 1-1 draw at rival Barton in Conference Carolinas play.
With the tie, the University of Mount Olive men's soccer team moves to 2-5-2 overall with a 2-3-1 mark in conference action. The Trojans collect their four points in the east divisional standings to remain in third place and sit three points back of the leaders Francis Marion and Chowan.
Meanwhile, Barton drops to 4-5-2 this season behind a 0-3-1 record in league play.
In the first half, the Bulldogs controlled possession in the opening 20-plus minutes of the match and tallied numerous shots and three corner kicks. Barton nearly grabbed the lead in the 24th minute before senior defender
Amin Ferreira saved a shot out of the line to keep the contest scoreless. Just over three minutes later, the Bulldogs scored the opening goal after Gabriel Slemer Lopes collected the loose ball before firing it into the top of the goal, 1-0. The Trojans looked for the game-tying goal late in the first half and totaled four shots over a 12-minute stretch. Barton took the one-goal advantage into halftime with an 8-4 edge in shots.
In the initial five minutes of the second half, both goalkeepers were forced into an early save before Barton was issued four yellow cards over the next 13-plus minutes. In the 75th minute, the Bulldogs were forced down to 10 men after a second yellow card to Alfie Mattocks resulted in a red. Following a foul just outside the left side of the box, sophomore
Joao Barboza Filho crossed the free-kick into the box before Semola buried the loose ball into the net to tie the match at the 83:34 mark, 1-1. Less than two minutes later, Barboza Filho had an open shot on goal saved in front of the net by a Barton defender to keep the contest deadlocked. Just moments later, the Trojans looked to have scored the game-winning goal before the offside flag went up resulting in the contest ending in a draw, 1-1.
Junior goalkeeper
Axel Engren registered two saves on 14 shots attempted in 90 minutes of action.
UMO finished with a 5-4 edge in shots on goal, while Barton held a 5-2 lead in corner kicks.
Mount Olive returns to action on Saturday, Oct. 7, when it travels to face Emmanual in league action with kickoff set for 4 p.m.
