NEWBERRY, S.C. – The Catawba men's soccer team opened South Atlantic Conference (SAC) play on Saturday night by traveling to Newberry. After a long weather delay, the Catawba Indians shined in a dominant 5-0 victory.
Juan Camilo was excellent, scoring two goals and striking all three shot attempts on target. Alex Payton, Breno Andreucci and Luis Rodrigues also added to Catawba's impressive goal tally. Diogo Correia dished out two assists while also putting two shots on goal.
Catawba (2-0-1, 1-0-0 SAC) noticeably outshot Newberry 17-2, positioning 12 of the attempts on goal. The blue and white also played a cleaner match, totaling eight fouls while the Wolves fouled on 12 occasions. Newberry (0-2-0, 0-1-0 SAC) was given two yellow cards. Catawba received one.
The Catawba Indians quickly struck first in the ninth minute when Payton found the back of the net unassisted. The blue and white fired off six more shots in the first half, two more of which were on goal but to no avail.
Camilo scored an unassisted goal in the 66th minute to give Catawba a 2-0 cushion.
The Catawba Indians would unleash a frenzy of goals in the final eight minutes, starting with Andreucci scoring off a feed from Correia in the 82nd minute
Less than two minutes later, Rodrigues would capitalize on a penalty kick by finding the back of the net.
Catawba once again followed it up with Camilo's second goal of the night in the 87th minute off another assist by Correia to produce the program's largest scoring output against a SAC opponent since 2023.
The Catawba Indians' defense was terrific all night. Goalkeeper Héctor Vara saved the lone shot his way, delivering his first clean sheet of the season.
Catawba will be back in action on Wednesday, September 9th, when they head to Wilson, N.C., for a nonconference match at Barton at 6:30 p.m.
