Seguin, Texas - The Centenary men's soccer team dropped a 4-1 decision to the Texas Lutheran Bulldogs on Friday night at Gustafson Field.
The Gents (3-3-1) will aim to rebound on Sunday as they wrap up their weekend roadtrip versus the Southwestern Pirates in a match set for 2:30 p.m. in Georgetown, Texas. The Bulldogs improved to 4-2 with Friday's win.
The teams battled to a scoreless tie at halftime but the second half was a different story as the Bulldogs struck for four goals and held the Gents off the scoreboard until the 88th minute when Centenary freshman F Connor Buche (College Station, Texas) found the net for his first-career goal to help the Maroon and White avoid their second-straight shutout. Centenary was coming off of an intense and emotional match at home last Sunday to UT Dallas. The Gents and Comets battled to a scoreless tie for nearly all of regulation until UT Dallas found the net at the 87:28 mark for a 1-0 lead. Centenary suffered its first home loss of the season and only lost for the fifth time in its last 22 matches.
Centenary, despite Friday's loss, is still an impressive 14-6-3 in its last 23 matches. Friday's four goals allowed snaps a streak of nine-straight matches allowing one goal or less. Senior GK Sami Borchalli (Lafayette, La.) returned after missing two games due to an injury. He played the entire match and made four saves. The four goals allowed on Friday was extremely uncharacteristic for the Gents' defense and for Borchalli as Centenary entered the match as one of the top defensive teams in the conference. The Gents ranked first entering Friday's play in goals against average (0.64) and were tied for first in fewest goals allowed with four, as TLU matched that total.
Borchalli, despite missing the last two matches prior to Friday, entered the match ranked fourth in the conference in GAA (0.54), third in save percentage (.867), sixth in saves (13), and first in shutouts with two. TLU goalkeeper Caleb Weed picked up the win as he played all 90 minutes and pitched the shutout as he oddly did not record a single save. The Bulldogs took 21 shots to just six for the Gents and held a decisive 7-1 advantage in corner kicks.
Luis Green scored a pair of goals for the Bulldogs, Santiago Quinonez added one score, and Marco Rodriguez scored a goal and had an assist. Buche was assisted on his goal by fellow freshman F/MF Filmon Gazae (Houston, Texas). who recorded his first-career assist.
Centenary remains away from home to open conference play next weekend as the Gents face Trinity in San Antonio on Friday, Oct. 1 at 8 p.m. followed by an Oct. 3 match at Schreiner in Kerrville, Texas at 3 p.m. Centenary's next home match will be Friday, Oct. 8 versus St. Thomas at 7:30 p.m.
See the complete Gents' schedule here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/msoc/2021-22/schedule
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