PORTSMOUTH – Men's soccer knocked off nationally-ranked Campbellsville Saturday afternoon, 2-1. The Bears (5-8, 2-5 MSC) used a goal in each half from Joseph Webster and solid defense to upset the No. 22 Tigers (9-3-1, 5-2 MSC). Campbellsville came into the day in fourth place in the Mid-South Conference and held the third-highest national ranking of any team in the conference. The win was the first in program history against a team ranked in the NAIA Top 25.
Webster's two goals came with the assist of Martyn Sayer and Ben Pulsford. For his scoring output, Webster was named the Portsmouth Pizzeria Man of the Match. Those two goals staked SSU to a 2-0 lead in the 58th minute. Campbellsville would score with 7:06 remaining on the game clock to make things interesting late but a strong defensive effort anchored by Thomas Carbonari's 11 saves in goal prevented any further damage from the Tigers' offense.
Shawnee State would not see many shots chances on their offensive half of the field it certainly capitalized when given the chance. Case in point, Shawnee State's first goal of the game came on its first shot on goal of the game. In the 32nd minute, Sayer found Webster up top. Webster would slip past has defender on the pass and beat the goalie to his the near post for a 1-0 advantage. Five saves from Carbonari in the opening half would make a 1-0 game at the half.
The Bears also scored on their first shot on goal during the second half, which was also just the third shot on goal of the game. With a direct kick just inside their offensive half of the field, Pulsford (who had taken the other shot on goal in the opening half off a direct kick) put another direct kick on goal. This time, the keeper could not gather the ball in the box and Webster was there for the finish to put the Bears up 2-0.
A very physical game got ratcheted up a couple more notches in the second half as the teams combined for seven yellow card warnings in the match, all but one of which came over the 45 minutes of play. The Tigers would make it interesting in the 83rd minute when they finally broke through the Bears defense on a cross from Ross Lindsey that found Ryan Foster on the far post for the finish.
This made the score 2-1 with 7:06 to play but Carbonari would save two more shots in the remaining time while watching another pair travel wide of frame to preserve the Mid-South Conference victory. Those two final saves gave him a total of six for the half. Campbellsville would end up taking a total of 20 shots in the game but Carbonari stopped 11 of the 12 that were on frame for the victory.
With the victory, the men's soccer has now put itself on the doorstep of claiming of a berth in the Mid-South Conference Tournament. The Bears can do so with a win in the next MSC match at Pikeville next Saturday, October 26. Before they get that chance, two non-conference matchups await the team as it hosts Kentucky Christian this coming Monday and travels to Cincinnati Christian on Tuesday.
Notes: Shawnee State's win today was the first in men's soccer history against an NAIA Top 25 team ... The victory was SSU's first on its home turf in program history against Campbellsville in five attempts … The win was just the second all-time against Campbellsville with the other victory coming in 2010 (W, 3-0) … Joseph Webster's two goals give him five for the season … Saturday's game was Webster's second two-goal performance of the season (West Virginia Tech) … Webster now has five total multi-goal games in his SSU career … Webster's goal was the 19th of his SSU career, he sits in eighth place in the career goals list and is just one goal behind his current head coach Ron Goodson who scored 20 career goals … He also ranks eighth on the all-time points list, just three points behind Goodson and last year's senior Luke Purpero who each had 51 career points … Webster's fifth game-winning goal of his career ties him for second all-time with Steven Cox and Chad Johnston (Purpero finished with eight game-winning goals in his career) … Martyn Sayer's assist was his second of the season … Ben Pulsford's assist was his second of the season and of his career … Both of Pulsford's assists have come on game-winning goals (Anderson) … Thomas Carbonari picked up his fourth win of the season in goal and eighth victory of his career.
