Box Score

By Chris Riley

Cleveland, Tenn.--After putting in a solid performance Friday night against the current NCAA division II champions and No. 1 ranked Lynn University, Shorter looked to bounce back Saturday afternoon as they took on King University in the second game of the Lee University Olive Garden invitational. 

In the early periods of the game the effort put in on Friday night seemed to have taken its toll as three silly mistakes gifted King a 3-0 lead with just fifteen minutes of the match gone.

The 3rd goal seemed to finally wake the Hawks as they dusted themselves off and began to get back into the game. Halfway through the first half Shorter took a firm grip of proceedings and got on the board as Lucas Cavenco whipped in a corner that was met by the head of Robert Ochieng, and found the back of the net.

The goal spurred Shorter on and in the 43rd minute Cavenco made a burst into the box, but was brought down for a penalty. Cavenco stepped up to take the kick which the keeper tipped wide, saving low to his right.

Despite heading in to half time down, 3-1, the Hawks superiority showed in the shots column; which they lead 11-6. 

Shorter brought the same momentum back out with them in the second half. However, it took 25 minutes of pressure before the Hawks could find the net again, this time Cavenco heading in from a corner, cutting the lead to 3-2.

Outshooting King 11-0 in the second half the Hawks continued to search for an equalizer. Shorter thought that they had found the opportunity when Ochieng seemed to be taken down inside the box, but the referee was not interested.

The Hawks continued; finally finding the goal that they deserved in the 88th minute.

Level at 3-3 the game headed into extra time and it took a last ditch save from Nicholas Ferrigno in the Shorter goal to keep the Shorter in the game early in the first extra period.  

With just two minutes remaining in the second period of extra time Ochieng was again dragged down inside the box, this time the referee called the foul, but Ochieng was unable to convert the penalty.

The hawks out shot King 29-9 in the match and had a 12-2 advantage in corner kicks. 

After the game Shorter University head Coach Paulo Neto had mixed feelings. "We took a lot of positives from our loss to the reigning national champs and the No. 1 team in the country, Lynn University. We expected to build upon those positives today against King but unfortunately three individual mistakes put us 3 goals behind within 15 minutes, it was surreal."

"Even more surreal, though, was our capacity to keep our serenity and chase the game from such adversity," he adds, "definitely doing enough to win the game. You should win any game where you score three goals and miss two penalties. But I'll take the draw given the circumstances, certainly something we can build upon". 

Shorter will hit the road again on Friday as they travel first to Huntsville, Ala. to take on Alabama Huntsville and then to Jackson, Tenn. to take on Union University on Sunday as Gulf South Conference action begins. Game times are set for 8pm & 5pm, respectively.