A second-half rally that had the Georgia Gwinnett College men's soccer team scoring two goals in the final 30 minutes came up short in a 4-3 loss to Talladega College in Saturday evening's matchup of Continental Athletic Conference opponents in Talladega, Alabama.
Talladega (3-2-1) scored on four of its nine shots in the match while the Grizzlies (4-3-3) had 21 shots, with 16 coming during the second half.
The Tornadoes held a 4-1 lead after Tavar Lawrence scored on a breakaway in the 61st minute. He scored a pair of goals in the match, netting a bicycle kick goal in the 23rd minute as the hosts took a 2-1 halftime lead.
Meanwhile, senior
Antoine Ferez scored twice for GGC, squaring the match at 1-1 in the 18th minute and then bringing the team within 4-3 with a goal in the 75th minute.
Senior
Emanuele Sordi buried a shot in the 63rd minute after receiving a crossing pass from sophomore
Nadav Weizmann to begin the comeback attempt.
Talladega took advantage of two one-on-one situations to score goals in the first 16 minutes of the second half to build a 4-1 lead. GGC attempted a rally with goals from seniors
Emanuele Sordi in the 63rd minute and
Antoine Ferez in the 75th minute. However, the Grizzlies were unable to score a third goal to complete the rally.
8' – Jalen Smiens, TC (unassisted)
18' –
Antoine Ferez, GGC (
Joshua Orue,
Emanuele Sordi)
23' – Tavar Lawrence, TC (unassisted)
56' – Renato Itamouna, TC (unassisted)
61' – Tavar Lawrence, TC (unassisted)
63' –
Emanuele Sordi, GGC (
Nadav Weizmann)
75' –
Antoine Ferez, GGC (
Aleksandar Rajkovic,
Emanuele Sordi)
- The Grizzlies held a 21-9 shot advantage in the match
- GGC recorded 11 corner kicks across the 90 minutes of action
- Senior Antoine Ferez had eight shot attempts
- Senior Emanuele Sordi scored his team-leading seventh goal of the season
- GGC is now 4-3-3 this fall; Talladega improves to 3-2-1 on the season
- The Grizzlies were ranked No. 17 in the latest NAIA Top 25 poll
- Georgia Gwinnett College now has a 5-1 lead in the series
- GGC and Talladega are both members of the Continental Athletic Conference
Georgia Gwinnett College is scheduled to host Campbellsville University (Kentucky) on Wednesday, October 4, from the Grizzly Soccer Complex, starting at 7 p.m.
