Late Surge Not Enough For No. 21 Wildcats

Wednesday, October 14

Davidson, N.C.

7:00 p.m.

Davidson College Athletics

9-3-0, 2-2SoCon

Appalachian State

4-7-1, 1-3SoCon

Team	1	2	Final F
Appalachian State	0	1	1
Davidson	0	0	0

Machel Turner

Photo by: Tim Cowie - DavidsonPhotos.com

10/14/2009 10:29:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

By: Mark Brumbaugh

DAVIDSON, N.C. – The No. 21 Davidson men's soccer team was unable to convert on late-scoring opportunities and suffered its first shutout loss of the season, falling to Appalachian State, 1-0 on a cold and rainy Wednesday night at Alumni Stadium.

Appalachian State improved to 4-7-1, 1-3 in the Southern Conference. The Wildcats have now dropped their last two conference games and now stand at 9-3, 2-2 SoCon.

Nate Latigue headed a free kick from the left of the six-yard box to J.J. Elder, who was in the box and chipped it in on the left-post side for the match-deciding goal at 54:53.

Play was even through the first half in terms of shots, as Davidson held a 4-3 lead, but Appalachian State responded with eight in the second half to Davidson's five.

“It was a disappointing effort,” said Davidson head coach Matt Spear. “We all have to realize that every game is a toss up, and your record and ranking going in doesn't matter. Our movement, sharpness and fight were not where they needed to be tonight to win an important conference game.”

The 'Cats best scoring opportunity came in the 74th minute on a shot from senior F Charlie Reiter (Westport, Conn.). Charging down the middle of the field, Reiter sent a lead ball to junior F Yannick Pilgrim (Arima, Trinidad & Tobago) running up the right flank. Pilgrim sent a cross to senior F Machel Turner (Kingston, Jamaica) on the left side of the six-yard box, who touched it back to Reiter in the center of the field. Reiter's shot went straight at goalkeeper Collin Taylor though, and Taylor made the save to preserve the slim lead.

Junior Josh Zipin (Silver Spring, Md.) almost evened the match in the second half too, but he was ruled offsides just before rifling a shot into the net. Reiter and Pilgrim both had opportunities in the final 11 minutes, but were unable to get their respective shots on goal.

“It just took us too long to get going,” said Spear. “We had some good chances late, but we were not able to convert those. We didn't play with the conviction necessary to win for a long enough period of time tonight. Appalachian State, a team that is well coached and has good players, gained confidence and rhythm early on and did a great job taking advantage of a defensive communication breakdown to score.”

Davidson only forced Collins to make two saves, while an ASU defender also stopped a shot on goal. Sophomore Chip Sanders (Thomasville, Ga.) made five saves for the Wildcats. Appalachian State had two corner kick attempts, all in the first half, while Davidson had three, all in the second half. One of the 'Cats' attempts came with under four minutes remaining.

Davidson will look to get back on track against Furman on Saturday night at 7 p.m. in Alumni Stadium.