Men's Soccer News

Centre 1 - Rhodes 0

Following what was a very well played game against Mount St. Joseph on Wednesday night, we traveled down to Memphis, Tenn. the following morning for a game against Rhodes College. Once we got to Memphis and settled into the hotel, we traveled to a local park for a light practice. The guys were anxious for the game the following day but the attitude was relaxed and focused. The Rhodes-Centre game is always a tough contest, with the series split with each team at six wins, six losses and one tie. I wouldn't go as far to say there is bad blood between the two schools, but neither team wants to drop a decision to the other so every game is a battle.

The game started out as expected, extremely back and forth with neither team really developing a rhythm. Centre definitely created more chances in the first half, with Centre having six shots verse zero for Rhodes . Our best opportunity in the half came when Chris Baumann (Louisville, Ky.) took a ball from roommate Adam Boyer (Louisville, Ky.) and delivered a through ball to an on running Nick Judah, also from Louisville, and nearly beat the Rhodes goalkeeper to the near post. Judah, who has had a solid season thus far, doesn't miss those too often, so that may have been a precursor to the type of day it was going to be. At the half, the score would remain 0-0.

To begin the second period, the boys came out with a little more focus as to what needed to be done, however this wasn't going to be the case for long. As was the case in the first half, things wouldn't remain settled for long, and neither team would gain control. Rhodes played a very compacted defense, sitting in and playing 8-9 players behind the ball and then would look for the counter. Centre would finally get through midway through the half with senior captain David Horne (Louisville, Ky.) capitalizing off a beautiful service from junior defender Joseph Fisher (Cullman, Ala.). Following a hard foul to junior Matt Corbett (Louisville, Ky.) about 10 yards into our offensive half, Fisher would serve in a free kick that would see Horne get inside his defender and head home his fourth goal of the season.

The game would continue to be a bit unsettled and with about eight minutes to go in the game, a Rhodes player would go down in the box and the official would reward him with a penalty kick. Whether it was a legit call or not, the call still stood and Chris Creger (Charleston, S.C.) would see his second PK of the season. Creger would see it the whole way and the kick would glance off the left post and out of play. With a game like this, sometimes you need a little luck, and this was it. Following a great goal by Horne and the missed PK, the game would end with Centre up 1-0. On the game, Centre would outshoot Rhodes 20-6. Creger would make four saves with Rhodes GK making eight.

Not an outstanding performance on our part, but a win none the less. Anything can happen in this conference; with on any given day anyone can lose. Fortunately we held on and opened up the SCAC with a win. We now have to travel on down to Jackson, Miss. for our second conference match-up against Millsaps.