HARTSVILLE, S.C. — The Catawba College men's soccer team did not allow a shot on goal until the 87th minute when Héctor Vara made a vital stop, preserving a scoreless draw against Coker on Wednesday night.

TEAM STATS
- Catawba (4-2-1, 1-1-1 SAC) was out-shot 14-7, but put two attempts on frame compared Coker's (1-0-5, 1-0-2 SAC) one on-goal boot
- The blue and white held a 3-0 advantage in first-half corner kicks, but a lopsided ledger in the second stanza resulted in a 7-4 count favoring Coker
- Each side received three yellow cards, but the Cobras were whistled for nearly double the fouls at a 20-11 differential

INDIVIDUAL STATS
- Adriano Melo and Carlos Zapata had the Catawba Indians' pair of on-frame shots
- Melo was the lone Catawba player with multiple shots at two, while five others registered one shot apiece
- In net, Vara went the distance with one save to secure back-to-back clean sheets

HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half
- Giovanni Benericetti fired Catawba's first shot in the 12th minute, while Coker added three in the first 15 minutes
- Melo launched a dart at Cobra goalie Ismael Caria who denied the match's first shot on goal before the visitors were whistled for two offside infractions
- A Coker yellow late in the half set up a free kick that resulted in a high delivery from Callum Hudson

Second Half
- The Catawba Indians attacked swiftly as Zapata supplied an on-target shot two minutes after the break and Melo saw his 51st-minute attempt get blocked
- Coker's Alexis Abalam let off a pair of blasts that the Catawba defense deflected later on, prior to both offenses cooling off midway through the frame
- Máté Kenyeres and Vito Venaría logged blocked and high shots, respectively, before a variety of Coker corner kicks and shots failed to threaten
- In the 87th minute, a boot from the corner nearly broke the deadlock but an acrobatic save by Vara denied Alvaro Bonet's promising chance
- Neither team submitted a bid to win during the final 3:50, giving Catawba its first draw of the season and Coker its fifth

UP NEXT
Catawba returns home on Saturday, Oct. 4, for a South Atlantic Conference matchup with fourth-ranked Anderson at 1 p.m.