DUE WEST, S.C. – Ilijia Ilic scored twice and Wezly Barnard stopped nine shots as the Young Harris College men’s soccer team shut out Erskine College 3-0 Saturday (Oct. 1) afternoon at Huggins Field.

The Mountain Lions won their second consecutive game and improved to 7-3-0 while the Flying Fleet fell to 4-4-1. Young Harris returns to action Thursday (Oct. 6) when they travel to Milligan College, Tenn., for a 4 p.m. contest against Milligan College.

Ilic scored the first of his two strikes on a header off a direct kick from James Thorpe at the 25:53 mark.  The Mountain Lions took a 2-0 lead on Andreas Pechmann’s free kick off the upper right corner of the crossbar at the 57:39 mark. It was Pechmann’s third goal of 2011.

The Flying Fleet, which outshot Young Harris 17-8, had a chance to cut the deficit in half in the 73rd minute when Jack Kimber had a penalty kick, but Barnard made a save to preserve his second shutout of 2011.  The Mountain Lions added their final goal with 29 seconds remaining as Ilic scored his team-high eighth goal from the right side that deflected off the crossbar and into the goal.

“It was a hard-working team performance against an Erskine team that put us under pressure throughout the whole match,” said head coach Mark McKeever.