LaGrange, GA – The Piedmont College men’s soccer team used a second half score to separate themselves from the hosting Panthers of LaGrange College in a key USA South matchup earlier tonight. The Lions outshot the home team 21 to 13 controlling much of the match, but the Panthers’ ability to strike quickly kept them in the contest.
The match would see-saw back and forth in the opening 45 minutes which featured four combined scores by the two teams playing in South Georgia. LaGrange would take the early advantage scoring just 1:38 into the game on a bullet header by Daniel Provence off a Raymond Haas service from wide right stunning the traveling Lions faithful.
The Panthers’ early score was a page out of the Lions’ playbook as youngster Ryan Herbert etched his name into the Division III record books with his goal just nine seconds in the last time PC took the field in a weekend match at Methodist. Herbert’s goal tied for the 5th quickest all time in the history of NCAA Division III.
Piedmont would not wait long to equalize doing so on a corner kick that batted around the 6-yard box before PC’s Colin Little put the ball into the back of the net for the score in the 4th minute. Just 13 minutes after drawing level, the Lions then took the lead for the first time on the day when Little got his second goal of the game when he fired a volley from 25 out after the Panther defense could not clear cleanly.
Little’s low driven shot dented the back of the LaGrange net to make it 2-1, but the Panthers had magic left in the first half as Kristian Javier took a ball with less then five seconds remaining and managed to drive centrally and strike a right-footed shot that tapped the right post and went in to put the Panthers even at 2-2 just before the halftime whistle blew.
In the second half, Chase Kane would score his fifth goal of the season when he placed a cut back pass from Ryan Herbert into the corner of the LaGrange goal to put his team up 3-2, a spot PC that would stay in for the rest of the evening.
With the win, the Lions move to 6-4 overall and improve to 3-1 in the USA South on the season. PC’s three conference wins is already tied for the most league wins for the Green and Gold since the Lions moved to the USA South.
Piedmont will return home for its next match, a Monday night affair on October 6 with kickoff at 5:00 pm against visiting Bob Jones University who took the better of a 4-1 decision between the two last season. The match will be aired live on the Mane Event Broadcasting Network with both a live video feed and live stats integrated through the broadcast provided courtesy of the Office of Athletic Communications at PC.
