LAKELAND, Fla. – Southeastern men's soccer comes off a historical week after upsetting #7 Thomas University, 1-0 for its first win over an NAIA Top 25 team in program history, and defeating SCAD 3-1, two days prior. The Fire now sit at 5-1 in The Sun Conference, and have moved into a tie for first place. Yesterday, the team was ranked 18th in the NAIA Coaches' Top 25 poll; the first national ranking in program history.
Against SCAD, midfielders
Camilo Mejia and
Jonathan Jimenez combined to put the Fire on top 1-0 in the 26
th minute of play. The goal was Mejia's first of the season.
Jimenez took responsibility for the two point buffer in the 35
th minute with an assist from
Corey Mills, then the Bees made it 2-1 with just 12 seconds to play in the first half.
Less than a minute into the second,
Gerritson Craane scored the final goal of the game.
"We knew going into the game that SCAD was so much better than what their record indicated," said Coach
Clay Roberts. "I felt that if we could stay composed and develop a rhythm to the game, we would be able to get behind their defense to produce goal scoring opportunities and we did just that."
A slicing free kick off the boot of
Pedro Ivo Dias is what would eventually make history against Thomas. In the 29
th minute, the junior midfielder set up about 20 yards outside the box then flawlessly avoided a wall of Night Hawks and the keeper for the lone goal of the match.
Freshman keeper
Jorge Navarrete made an impressive 11 saves against Thomas in his fourth conference shutout; a performance that earned him NAIA National Player of the Week honors. This is the first award of its kind in SEU history.
"Thomas has some of the best forwards in the country and our back four defenders were tremendous all game," said Roberts. "Sometimes defenders are only praised for the defensive roles in the game, but our guys were critical in helping to produce goal scoring opportunities in the first half. Once we got the goal we needed, they were exceptional in closing out the game."
UP NEXT:Home vs. Warner University (TSC) on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.Last Year: 7-9-1, 4-5-1 TSC…Seeded seventh in post season TSC play…Lost to second seed Florida Memorial 2-0 in quarterfinal round.
This Year: 2-9-1, 1-5 TSC…Most recently beat Florida Memorial 2-1 for first TSC win of the season.
Previous Meeting: Lost to SEU on September 13
th 3-1 in Lakeland, then on October 22
nd 4-1 in Lake Wales.
Quotable: "Warner is going to be one of our toughest games of the year. They come off a tremendous win over Florida Memorial and have momentum coming into the late part of the season. If we can win the possession in the flank play, we will be able to unbalance them on the inside and rely on good combination play to break them down and produce opportunities." – Coach
Clay Roberts @ Webber International University (TSC), Babson Park, Florida, on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.Last Year: 7-8, 3-7 TSC
This Year: 3-6-1, 1-4-1 TSC…Most recently beat Florida College 3-2 and play Ave Maria this evening…Sophomore midfielder and Edinburgh, Scotland native leads the team with eight goals and four assists.
Previous Meeting: Beat SEU 2-1 on October 25
th in Lakeland
Quotable: "Webber is a lot like SCAD in that their record does not indicate their strength and ability to win. They have some dangerous tools and we will need to execute a strong defensive effort while transitioning well to offense to begin our attack." – Coach
Clay Roberts For all things Fire men's soccer, be sure to follow @SEUFireMSoccer on Twitter.
