MSOC: Season-long losing streak broken

The USC Aiken men’s soccer team’s losing streak has came to an end when they played against No.16 Young Harris on Saturday evening with a 3-1 victory in a league contest.

With this victory, the Pacers placed 2-4 for the season with their first game in the league playing 1-0.

The Pacers opened the scoring when Abelardo Rodriguez found teammate Ricardo Pineda on the right side of the field, with Pineda blasting an attempt in the 15th minute of action from five yards, finding the back of the goal for a 1-0 lead.

The Pacers continued to push forward and work as a team throughout the first half, when USC Aiken went up to a 2-0 when Pineda scored another goal in the 34:52 mark for a two-score advantage.

During the game, the Mountian Lions took several point-blank shots at Pacer goal, but Kenneth Kalek was up for the challenge with what seemed like glue on his hands. Kalek turned away the visitors with some impressive catches, and when he was unable to pick up the save, he punched the ball away.

In the second half of the game, USC Aiken player Chukwudi Apugo had a break-away at the 88th-minute mark to rocket home a shot and raised the score for the Pacers to 3-0.

It also marked the first ever win for USC Aiken over Young Harris.

Head coach Ike Ofoje said the win was “long overdue, the guys worked hard even the [games] we lost.”

“We think today we wanted it,” he said, “And that was a very good team. And one of the top teams in the conference.”

The Pacers will return to action on Saturday, Oct. 12, when they play in the next Peach Belt Conference against Lander at 7 p.m.