LAKELAND, Fla.— After a thrilling 2-1 overtime victory against Montreat in their season opener, the Fire will travel to Savannah, Ga. to participate in the SCAD Invitational for the third consecutive year. Southeastern will take on St. Andrews University on Friday before doing battle with Tennessee Wesleyan University the following day.
GAME INFO:
Southeastern University (1-0) vs. St. Andrews University (0-0)
Date: Friday, August 24, 2018
Time: 5 p.m.
Location: Savannah, Ga.
Coverage: Live Updates- follow @SEUFireMSoccer on Twitter; Live Stats- https://savannah.scadathletics.com/sidearmstats/msoc/summary
The Fire:
- Southeastern defenseman and captain Kendall Crouse returned for the Fire in a tremendous way. Playing in his first contest in nearly two years, the Lakeland native headed in the golden goal to give SEU a 2-1 triumph over Montreat with just 58 ticks left on the clock in double overtime.
- Freshman Eric Ugarte managed to tally the other goal for SEU within a mere two minutes of making his initial appearance for the squad. Ugarte came in at the 40-minute mark and immediately made an impact, getting the Fire on the scoresheet for the first time in 2018 in the 41st minute.
- With Ugarte's goal, the Fire have now scored in 16 of their past 17 matchups dating back to the 2016 season.
- Senior goalkeeper Jorge Navarrete blocked seven shots to keep Southeastern in the contest against Montreat, the second-most saves in his career.
- The Fire will look to start their season with back-to-back wins for only the third time in program history, and the first time since the 2014 campaign.
The Knights:
- St. Andrews has yet to play a contest in 2018, but is coming off of an 8-8 record from last season. The Knights were extinguished in the first round of the AAC Tournament with a 3-2 OT loss to Milligan College.
- SAU returns an astounding 30 athletes from a season ago, including the team's leading scorer, Julio Rico, who netted the ball 12 times for St. Andrews in 2017. Returning players scored a combined 26 of the Knights' 33 goals last year.
- The Knights also welcome 11 new faces to the squad, all freshmen.
GAME INFO:
Southeastern University (1-0) vs. Tennessee Wesleyan University (1-0)
Date: Saturday, August 25, 2018
Time: 1 p.m.
Location: Savannah, Ga.
Coverage: Live Updates- follow @SEUFireMSoccer on Twitter; Live Stats- https://savannah.scadathletics.com/sidearmstats/msoc/summary
The Bulldogs:
- Like their fellow AAC member, Tennessee Wesleyan was also eliminated in the first round of the conference tournament last season, suffering a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Union College.
- The Bulldogs opened their 2018 schedule with a win, as they easily handled Middle Georgia State University by a score of 3-0. Goalkeeper Nick Croucher, who started all 17 contests for the Bulldogs in 2017, registered six saves in the competition versus MGSU.
- Three separate underclassmen collected goals for the Bulldogs. Harry Baggaley, Gabriel Andrade, and Kyle Wynne all notched their first collegiate goals in the opening match.
- Tennessee Wesleyan is looking to start its year 2-0 for the first time since the 2015 season.
Previous Meetings:
The Fire faced both Tennessee Wesleyan and St. Andrews in last year's SCAD Invitational, falling to the Bulldogs 2-1 before rebounding against the Knights with a 4-0 thrashing. The only other meeting between the Fire and the two schools came in 2005, when Southeastern took a contest from TWU by forfeit.
