GREENVILLE, S.C. — The Montreat College men's soccer team notched its second clean sheet in as many days on Thursday night when it battled the Bob Jones University Bruins to a scoreless draw in Greenville, S.C. Playing their nonconference finale roughly 25 hours after their previous match ended, the Cavaliers once again held their opposition without a goal to move to 3-6-5 on the year. BJU moved to 6-4-4 with the tie.
Montreat generated several first-half chances while keeping the Bruins off the scoreboard.
Viktor Mladenov had an attempt saved in the fourth minute,
Alejandro Hernandez served up a corner in the ninth minute and
Ricardas Milasius put another shot on goal in the 10
th minute. Getting the start in net,
Joey Randazzo made saves on Bob Jones attempts at the 14:38 and 26:03 marks, while another BJU try went wide in the 30
th minute. The Cavs pushed again late in the opening frame, with
Sako Mo forcing a save with less than 12 minutes remaining. Hernandez and
Braian Velasquez took corner kicks in the final seven minutes, and Mo's header was cleared off the line by a defender in the 45
th minute. As a result, the two teams reached halftime deadlocked at 0-0.
Very involved in the run of play, Mo sent a shot above the bar merely 6:45 into the second period.
Jose Solano tallied the visitors' fourth corner of the evening roughly two minutes later. Randazzo garnered his lone save of the second half at the 58:33 mark, as the remaining Bruins shots failed to reach their intended target. Meanwhile, the Cavaliers ramped up the attacking pressure, with Velasquez and Mladenov missing high less than 45 seconds apart in the 70
th and 71
st minutes.
Bob Jones picked up a red card with 14:41 to go, leaving the Cavs a man-up on the pitch. Hernandez and
Ethan Grasso forced saves during the final stretch, while shots from Solano and
Erikas Kvedaravicius missed the frame across that same span. In the end, neither team managed to find the back of the net through 90 minutes, and the two squads left Greenville with a scoreless draw.
"The guys worked extremely hard tonight after coming off a strong performance yesterday," said Head Coach
Michael Bruce. "Back-to-back games are always tough, and it was great to see us keep to shutouts. We are excited to keep momentum going on Saturday versus Bryan."
While the scoreboard was even, Montreat maintained the upper hand in several statistical categories, including shots (11-8), shots on goal (6-3) and corner kicks (5-1). BJU doubled up its counterpart in saves (6-3) and committed one additional foul (13-12).
Randazzo played all 90 minutes in goal and recorded three saves for his first career clean sheet. Mo led the Cavaliers with three shots and put two on target. Mladenov added two attempts, including one on frame.
Up next, the Montreat College men's soccer team returns to Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) action on Saturday, Oct. 24, for a matchup versus Bryan College. Kickoff is slated for 11 a.m. at Pulliam Stadium in Black Mountain, N.C.
