YOUNG HARRIS, Ga. – Ilija Ilic broke up a tied match with a goal in the 68th minute as the Young Harris College men's soccer team started the 2012 season with a 3-1 upset victory over No. 19 Christian Brothers University Saturday (Sept. 1) afternoon at the Frances Wood Wilson Soccer Field.
The Mountain Lions improved to 1-0-0 and will face Thomas (Ga.) University in a 4 p.m. home match Sunday (Sept. 2). The Buccaneers fell to 0-1-0 and will next face Thomas in a 3 p.m. match Monday (Sept. 3) at Young Harris.
With the match knotted at 1, Ilic scored the Mountain Lions the go-ahead goal at the 67:38 mark off a double assist from teammates Khurram Shazad and Niall McCabe. Young Harris added an insurance goal with 10 seconds remaining as Shazad took advantage of the goalkeeper playing out of the box to score an empty netter.
Young Harris took a 1-0 lead in the 11th minute on a score by Lewis Hilton after McCabe, who had three assists, served the ball into the box. The Buccaneers equalized the match in the 36th minute when Yannick Skull scored on a set piece off a corner kick by Kevin Tikhomiroff.
Goalkeeper Wezly Barnard had seven saves, including two in the final 10 minutes that preserved the Mountain Lion win. Jaime Garcia registered six saves in net for Christian Brothers.
This was a very pleasing team performance," said Young Harris head coach Mark McKeever. "We played to our potential and it was a great mix of returning players showing leadership and new players adding what we really lacked last year.
Our front three (Ilic, Shazad, McCabe) and Alex Rivera provided a quality and standard that was breathtaking at times," added McKeever. "All in all, a great start to the season versus a team who won their conference and went to the NCAA tournament a year ago. We lacked a little depth due to injuries so I expect to carry on getting stronger and stronger."
