Mount Olive men play to 1-1 tie with No. 13 Anderson

By MOC Sports Information
Published in Sports on November 1, 2009 1:51 AM

• Print
• Email

MOC Sports Information

MOUNT OLIVE --  John Mendoza broke a scoreless tie in the 66th minute and Mount Olive withstood a 22-shot attack for a 1-1 double overtime tie against nationally 13th-ranked Anderson in Conference Carolinas men's soccer Saturday at Amon Field. The Trojans came within five minutes of a shutout before giving up a goal on Anderson's 10th corner kick of the match. Saturday's contest was the regular season finale for both teams.

 With the tie, coupled with Belmont Abbey's win against Erskine Saturday, Mount Olive is the No. 7 seed in the 2009 Conference Carolinas Men's Soccer Tournament. The Trojan travel to No. 2 seed Limestone for the first round.

 Mount Olive (6-9-1 overall, 3-6-1 Conference Carolinas) battled Anderson to a 0-0 tie at halftime, despite being outshot 9-5 in the first 45 minutes. Anderson (12-2-3, 6-1-3) looked to get on the scoreboard in the 28th minute on Ryan Messick's shot into an open net, but Mount Olive defender Ramon Gallardo cleared the ball away from just in front of the goal.

The momentum shifted in Anderson's favor after Mount Olive's goal with seven shots and three corner kicks over the next 16 minutes. Mount Olive blocked a shot by Moufflet, Mendoza cleared a ball that was just in front of the goal and Lasse Sohrweide had a shot nip the top of the crossbar as Mount Olive maintained the lead.

But Anderson would finally convert a corner kick as Sohrweide headed in Moufflet's service from the right corner to even the match at the 85:17 mark.

Carano recorded saves on Anderson's final two shots of regulation, the last coming with 35 seconds left, to force overtime. Neither team had any shot attempts in the first overtime and Anderson missed on its only shot in the second overtime.

Mount Olive hopes to avenge a 3-0 loss at Limestone earlier this month. The two teams have met only once in the conference tournament as the Trojans fell to Limestone 3-2 in the semifinal round of the 2006 conference tournament. Match time is 2 p.m. on Tuesday in Gaffney, S.C.