COLUMBIA, Ky. – The third time was the charm on Friday for the Fire's first goal of the season. On his third shot in seven minutes of action,
Victor Cavalcante found the back of the net and gave Southeastern University a season-opening road tie, 1-1, against host No. 18 Lindsey Wilson in men's soccer Thursday night.
Cavalcante, who spent his first two seasons playing for Lindsey Wilson (0-0-1), booted a shot on goal, which was saved at 68:01, put in play a corner kick moments later (68:08) and then saw his penalty kick fly wide right of the pipes with 71:58 on the clock. The senior, though, made his third attempt in seven minutes count when he found the bottom left corner at 75:29 to tie the contest and the Fire (0-0-1) defense made sure it stayed deadlocked over the final 14:30.
After the Blue Raiders held a 12-4 first-half shot advantage, the Fire registered a much more even second 45 minutes with only one shot less at 6-5. SEU did hold an 8-5 corner kick lead.
The tie was the second in as many meeting between the two soccer clubs after a Sept. 3 of 2022 tie in Lakeland by a 2-2 final.
Following a scoreless opening half, the Blue Raiders' Sebastian Tregarthen put the home team ahead on a good penalty kick at 57:25.
Fire goalie
Henrique Cavalini stopped four of the five shots on goal he faced in the full 90 minutes in net.
Cavalcante produced four of the team's nine shots and two of the three shots on goal.
Edward Alderson and
Colton Eliasen both booted two shots and
Arthur Bello put a shot on goal.
After having Friday off, Southeastern returns to the pitch on Saturday afternoon, Aug. 24, in a 5:30 p.m. EST match against No. 22 Bethel University (Tenn.) on Lindsey Wilson's field.