Laurinburg, NC- Erskine freshman Alex Connally (Warrington, England) broke a 2-2 halftime tie with a natural hat trick in the second half to lead Erskine College to a 5-2 win over Conference Carolinas opponent Saint Andrews on Saturday afternoon.
The Flying Fleet (3-8-2 Overall; 1-5-1 Conf.) earned their first league victory by scoring a season-high five goals against the Knights (3-8-0; 1-5-0), who lost their fourth straight contest.
Erskine built a 2-0 first half cushion in the first 30 minutes but witnessed St. Andrews fight back with two consecutive tallies to deadlock the score before the midway break.
The Fleet was awarded a penalty kick in the 15th minute and freshman Jack Kimber (Manchester, England) successfully took the shot to start the scoring. Junior Brady Johnson (Charleston, S.C.) doubled up the visitors lead in the 30th minute, scoring with an accurate shot inside the far post. Kimber earned an assist on the play, connecting with Johnson with a leading pass that set up the 1-v-1 against the goalkeeper.
Dela Merced cut the deficit in half in the 33rd minute, cracking a precise shot to cap a series of nice passes. Freshman Micah Uehara (Kapolei, Hawaii) and senior Tamas Szalai (Monroe, N.C.) were both credited with assists. Uehara started the surge from midfield with a pass over to Szalai on the right flank. After dribbling the ball closer to the goal, Szalai slotted a pass to Dela Merced in front of the net for the close range shot.
Junior Curtis Kiyabu (Kapolei, Hawaii) scored the equalizer for the Knights just before halftime. Kiyabu went top shelf with a header off a corner kick by classmate Dennis Schardt (Bethesda, Md.) to deadlock the score just 84 seconds before the intermission.
Uehara leads the Royal Blue & White with seven points on the season.
Connally scored all three goals in the second half to lift the Flying Fleet to the three-goal victory. Connally recorded his first two goals with consecutive header shots that were set up on a pair of corner kicks taken by Johnson. Connally scored the eventual game-winning goal in the 59th minute with a direct header off the Johnson corner kick. Connally increased the Erskine lead to 4-2 by striking again in the 66th minute. This time, Johnson made a short corner kick pass to sophomore Graham Howard (Lexington, N.C.), who fed the ball right back and Johnson sent in a volley to the cutting Connally.
Connelly completed his first collegiate hat trick with an insurance goal in the 86th minute. Senior Tyrell Dyson (Grovetown, Ga.) had the only assist on the final tally.
Erskine freshman goalkeeper Devon Braykovich (Roswell, Ga.) made four saves in the victory while junior counterpart William Williams (Denver, Colo.) had a game-high five saves.
SAPC held a 25-19 shot advantage and a 15-14 corner kick edge. Most of the Knights shots seemed to come in clusters. Szalai took three dangerous shots from inside the Erskine box in the 32nd minute but all three attempts were blocked. The Knights added three more quality shots off a trio of corner kicks in the first two minutes of the second half. Senior Eric Gomez (Estero, Fla.) had a shot go just wide of the near post and a header on goal saved by Braykovich in the flurry.
St. Andrews has a week to prepare for its next game, when the Knights make a trip to Anderson University (Anderson, S.C.) for a Conference Carolinas tilt on Saturday at 3 p.m. Erskine next visits league foe Queens University of Charlotte on Saturday at 4:30 p.m.
