MORROW, Ga. – The Young Harris College men’s soccer team fought hard Saturday night, but couldn’t come away with an upset as the Mountain Lions fell 3-1 to No. 8 Clayton State University.
The Lakers (13-2) got an early goal by Jonathan McKeever to give Clayton State a 1-0 lead in the seventh minute. McKeever received the ball from Arturo Cruz on the left side and after beating a defender, fired a shot into the lower right corner beating Young Harris goalkeeper Wezley Barnard for the goal.
Clayton State extended the lead to 2-0 in the 13th minute as Ryan Pugh and Matt Phillips assisted on Leighton Fredericks’ goal.
However, Young Harris (2-7-4) cut the margin in the 25th minute as Niall McCabe lost the ball in the offensive third of the field, but the ball was picked up by Andreas Pechmann, who fired a shot from about 30 yards out and drilled it into the back of the net to trim the deficit to 2-1.
The Lakers put some distance away from the Mountain Lions with a goal in the 75th minute as Fredericks got his second goal on assists by Cruz and McKeever.
Ashley Walker nearly trimmed the margin to 3-2 in the 85th minute, but his shot off a corner kick went wide to keep Clayton State on top, 3-1.
Barnard finished with five saves, while Brian Garcia didn’t record a save for Clayton State.
The Lakers out-shot the Mountain Lions, 17-3, and had a narrow 4-3 edge on corner kicks.
Young Harris concludes the home portion of its schedule 3:30 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 27 at the YHC Soccer Field against Berry College.
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