FLORENCE, S.C. – Khurram Shazad's hat trick – his second of his career - led Young Harris College to a wild 6-3 Peach Belt Conference men's soccer victory over Francis Marion University Saturday (Oct. 11) afternoon at Hartzler Field.
The No. 7-ranked Mountain Lions, who scored the first three and the final three goals of the match, won their eighth consecutive match as they improved to 8-0-1 overall and to 4-0-0 in the Peach Belt while the Patriots slipped to 6-3-2 and 1-2-2. Young Harris steps out of conference play for the final time this season when they travel to Jefferson City, Tennessee, for a 6:30 p.m. match Wednesday (Oct. 15) against 2013 NCAA Division II national runner-up Carson-Newman University.
With the match tied at 3, Shazad, who leads the team with nine goals, gave the Mountain Lions the lead for good at the 65:19 mark when his long blast – 25 yards - from the left side went into the upper right corner of the net off an assist from Ilija Ilic.
Young Harris, which outshot FMU 13-7, including a 7-0 margin in the second half, got an insurance goal four minutes later from Kendall Carballo as he converted the opportunity from 16 yards out. Carballo's second goal of 2014 was set up by quick passes from Ilic and Alex Wyper. Shazad closed out the scoring with less than three minutes when he took a pass from Daniel Alvarado and scored from 10 yards out on the right side to give the Mountain Lions a 6-3 advantage.
The Mountain Lions had taken command of the match as they scored three times in the opening 12 minutes. Lewis Hilton scored his fifth goal off his corner kick from the left side at the 1:55 mark that curled in the goal at the far post. Ilic added his eighth goal of the season three minutes later on a tap-in after Craig Quinn served the ball in from the left side. Shazad's first goal of the match at the 11:22 mark off a Hilton assist gave Young Harris a 3-0 lead.
Francis Marion used a three-goal barrage of its own over a nine-minute stretch midway through the first half to tie the match at 3. Jayden Doyle scored his first goal of the season off a free kick from 20 yards out on the right side that found the upper left-hand corner of the net at the 18:56 mark. Sven Ricke, who has three goals this season, scored back-to-back goals as he slipped through the YHC defense and beat the goalkeeper both times.
Young Harris' Jordan Bradshaw and Francis Marion's Mike Warn each registered two saves in net.
