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9/26/2009 - MEN'S SOCCER
Never Say Die Hatters Come back to Defeat Cougars
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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The Stetson men's soccer team scored a big win over the College of Charleston Friday evening in the opening game of the JU/Nike Classic in Jacksonville. Coming into the game the Cougars (6-2-0) were ranked at #6 in the South Region, one spot ahead of the Hatters who were at #7 for the second week in a row. Nationally Charleston is ranked just outside the Top-25 in the 26th position.
Just over fifteen minutes into the game Griffin Gilstrap (Safety Harbor, Fla.) opened the scoring with his team-leading fourth goal of the season. Fellow senior Kevin Munz (Jupiter, Fla.) made a nice cut to the inside and played a through ball to Gilstrap who broke in alone and finished to the left side.
Three more goals were scored in the first half and unfortunately for Stetson, all three were by the College of Charleston. The first C of C goal on the night broke a shutout streak of just under 314 minutes by Stetson goalkeeper Logan Potter (Merritt Island, Fla.).
Although down 3-1 at the break, the Hatters were never out and began their first comeback of the night 20 minutes into the second half. In the 65th minute it was Munz's turn. Gonzalo de Mujica (Weston, Fla.) slipped a through ball past the defenders and Munz finished to the near post to make the score 3-2.
Three minutes later the game was tied 3-3 after freshman Jonathan Mendoza (Altamonte Springs, Fla.) picked up his second assist of the season with a nifty pass to de Mujica.
The teams played even until the Cougars' Steven Nagy found the net with just under a minute and a half remaining in regulation. While some teams would have fell back and packed it in, Stetson showed tremendous confidence and pressed forward with everything it had including defenders Dan Sackman (Hampshire, England), Ryan Corning (Ponte Vedra, Fla.) and Robert Hodge (Devon, England).
