SALISBURY, N.C. – The Catawba men's soccer team celebrated Senior Night and delivered an outstanding performance, downing Carson-Newman 3-0 to remain unbeaten with one regular-season match remaining.
Alex Payton recorded a brace, scoring his South Atlantic Conference-leading eighth and ninth goals of the season. Senior midfielder João Magalhães continued his remarkable season, scoring his seventh goal and producing an assist. Héctor Vara posted his eighth clean sheet of the year with a five-save effort. Guilherme Quintas, Carlos Zapata and Giovanni Benericetti added assists for the blue and white's impressive offense.
Catawba (12-0-2, 8-0-1 SAC) and Carson-Newman (7-5-2, 5-3-1 SAC) each recorded 16 shots, but the blue and white put seven on goal while the Eagles tallied five on target. The hosts earned eight corner kicks, holding Carson-Newman to three. Two yellow cards were assessed apiece.
Breno Andreucci fired a good-looking shot in the seventh minute that just missed the mark by connecting with the crossbar. Quintas and Gabriel Miranda followed up with shots on goal but to no avail as the SAC foes were scoreless early on.
Catawba was able to break through in the 25th minute when Quintas found Magalhães on the right side, who delivered a nice backwards touch to Payton, who connected for his sixth game-winning goal of the year, tying the nation's leaders.
Vara would provide an acrobatic leaping save on a free kick in the 37th, sending the blue and white into halftime with a 1-0 lead.
Magalhães would break the match open in the 62nd minute after Zapata found him open inside the box for Catawba's second goal.
Benericetti subbed into the game and immediately made an impact in the 72nd minute, executing a perfect centering pass to Payton in front of the net, who fired in another goal to extend the comfortable lead as Catawba cruised to the 3-0 victory.
The win secured Catawba three crucial points in the South Atlantic Conference Regular Season Championship race, keeping the blue and white just two ahead of Emory & Henry (23) with one match left to play.
The Catawba Indians will look to complete an unbeaten regular season and earn a SAC Regular Season Title when they host Coker on Wednesday, October 28th at 5 p.m. at Frock Field.
Before the match, the Catawba men's soccer team celebrated the careers of Leo Souza, Gabriel Miranda, João Magalhães, Igor Gonçalves, Giovanni Benericetti, Hiromasa Iwai, Thomas Boinet, Richard Leon, Dominic Rück, Giovanni Massacesi and Bautista Vecchi Ramello as part of Senior Night.
Hear from Catawba Men's Soccer Head Coach Alex Morais & sophomore midfielder Alex Payton after the win:
