The Georgia Gwinnett College men's soccer team showcased its experience and depth in scoring a 3-1 victory against Hesston College (Kansas) on Sunday afternoon in the semifinal round of the Continental Athletic Conference's Summit Division tournament at the Grizzly Soccer Complex.
The top-seeded Grizzlies (11-4-1), the defending CAC champions, advance to play No. 2 seed Florida National University (10-7-1) in Tuesday night's divisional championship match, once again on their home pitch. The tournament winner receives one of the conference's automatic bids to the NAIA national tournament.
All three of GGC's goals and eight of its 13 shots in the match came from reserve players that made considerable contributions after coming off the team's bench.
Sophomore
Ousmane Fall broke a scoreless contest with a goal in the 34th minute, shortly after entering the contest. The 6-foot-3 forward soared above several Hesston defenders in front of the opposing net to strike a header into the back of the net after receiving a crossing pass from sophomore
Jean Malilo. Fall now leads the Grizzlies with eight goals for the season.
Two more goals came for the team within the next seven minutes.
Sophomore
Michael Mallaburn was the beneficiary of another assisting pass from Malilo to score in the 37th minute. It was Mallaburn's second goal of the season and Malilo's first multi-assist effort this fall.
Junior
Dylan Cedeno gave the hosts a commanding 3-0 advantage with an unassisted goal in the 41st minute of the match. The goal, his third of the season, came as he picked up a loose ball in front of the Hesston net and made a perfectly placed shot past a scrambling opposing goalkeeper.
Hesston's lone goal came on a penalty kick by Alexander Radu in the 54th minute of the match. The team threatened on a couple of occasions in the second half, but the GGC defense limited the Larks (12-4-2) to six shots – all in the last 45 minutes – and only one shot on goal.
Meanwhile, the Grizzlies controlled the pace of play throughout, with 13 shots and eight shots being on goal in the match.
Fall had a team-high three shots (with two being on goal) while fellow reserves Mallaburn and Cedeno each had two shots. Senior
Francisco Osorio, a starting player, also had two shots in the match.
Senior goalkeeper
Dagoberto Romero recorded his 10th victory of the season.
GGC has posted six straight victories, outscoring its opponents by an 18-1 margin in the process.
Coach's Corner
"This was a typical tournament game, with an opponent that was going to fight to the very end, and we found a way to continue onto Tuesday's championship match. We played well in the second part of the first half to get ahead 3-0. We have good depth and our bench players showed great work on the pitch. Our goals came on unselfish plays after our guys found open spaces in their defense. It was nice to see that kind of effort on those plays," said Head Coach
Steve DeCou.
Turning Point
All three of the Grizzlies' goals came with a seven-minute stretch of the first half – each by reserve players who contributed shortly after entering the match.
Ousmane Fall opened the scoring with a goal in the 34th minute. It was followed nearly three minutes later by
Michael Mallaburn with a goal.
Jean Malilo assisted on both of those goals.
Dylan Cedeno added an unassisted goal in the 41st minute to give the tournament hosts a 3-0 edge.
Goals
34' –
Ousmane Fall, GGC (
Jean Malilo)
37' –
Michael Mallaburn, GGC (
Jean Malilo)
41' –
Dylan Cedeno, GGC (Unassisted)
54' – Alexander Radu, Hesson (Penalty kick)
Inside The Numbers
- The Grizzlies outshot Hesston by a 13-6 margin and held a 8-1 edge in shots on goal in the match
- Reserve players scored all three of GGC's goals, had eight of the team's 13 shots and six of its eight shots on goal in the match
- Sophomore Ousmane Fall has scored goals in five of the seven matches he has played this season (missing matches due to injury) and now leads the team with eight tallies
- Sophomore Jean Malilo assisted on both of the team's first two goals for his first multi-assist match of the season
News & Notes
- Georgia Gwinnett improves to 11-4-1 in 2026; Hesson closes out the season at 12-4-2
- GGC has won its last six matches and has outscored opponents by an 18-1 margin during the winning streak
- GGC is the defending CAC tournament champion
- The program is striving to make its 10th NAIA tournament appearance in the past 11 seasons
Up Next
Georgia Gwinnett College advances to play Florida National University in the Summit Division championship match on Tuesday, November 10, at the Grizzly Soccer Complex, starting at 4 p.m. It will be a rematch of a 1-0 GGC victory over the Conquistadors in the CAC Classic on October 12 in Lawrenceville. The CAC bracket champion receives one of the conference's two automatic bids to the NAIA national tournament.
