St. Mary’s Blanks Davidson with a Pair of Late Strikes

Friday, August 31

Davidson, N.C.

7:00

Davidson College Athletics

0-1-0

St. Mary's

1-0-0

Team	1	2	Final F
St. Mary's	0	2	2
Davidson	0	0	0

St. Mary’s Blanks Davidson with a Pair of Late Strikes

11/30/2011 2:03:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

Joey Beeler -- Assistant SID

DAVIDSON, N.C. -- A pair of late second-half strikes lifted visiting St. Mary's to a 2-0 blanking of Davidson in the opening round of the adidas Classic at Alumni Stadium Friday evening in front of 831 fans. The Gaels begin the campaign 1-0, while the Wildcats open the 2007 slate 0-1.

Despite the contest being scoreless at the break, Davidson outshot the Gaels 6-3 in the opening period with its best chance coming in the 31st minute on a free kick. Following a St. Mary's foul just outside the box, Charlie Reiter touched the attempt to Robby Hoak, who had his right-footed blast punched over the cross bar by a diving Brian Mason.

“I thought we were in good position to put the game away in the first half,” commented Davidson head coach Matt Spear, who is in his seventh season at the helm of his alma mater. “But small details at the Division I level make all the difference in the world.”

With 30:40 left in the contest, the Wildcats had another great scoring opportunity but were unable to capitalize. Davidson's Alex Caskey started the counter with a tackle that was tracked down just shy of midfield by Reiter, who played a ball down the right flank to Machel Turner, but his one-on-one attempt with the Gaels' keeper missed wide.

St. Mary's finally broke the deadlock with a strike from Bryan VanDoorninck in the 68th minute of action. The Gaels' forward gathered a loose ball, split a pair of Wildcat defenders, leaving him a wide open attempt on goal, which he placed in the top-right corner.

Just over 13 minutes later, St. Mary's extended its margin with Erik Rivas' spinning blast from just inside the box. The game's final score was set up by Justin Kim, who located Rivas with a pass from the far side.

The Gaels finished with a slim 13-11 edge on shot attempts. Ben Ashton finished with five saves in net for the Wildcats, while Mason turned away a pair of Davidson attempts en route to his 14th career shutout.

“Even though we were down, I thought we showed good energy late and displayed a lot of fight,” said Spear.

Davidson returns to action Sunday, Sept. 2, when it hosts San Jose State at 12 p.m. The Gaels will conclude the annual event with a 2:15 p.m. contest against Charlotte at Alumni Stadium.

Live Videostreaming of the Wildcats' contest with the Spartans Sunday and all season long will be available online via www.davidsonwildcats.com.