Box Score BETHANY, W.Va. – Junior Wes Riley scored two first half goals to lead Marietta College to a 3-2 win over Bethany College Wednesday (Sept. 18) night in men's soccer. The goals were Riley's fourth and fifth of the season. Marietta improves to 2-4 on the season.
Bethany (3-5 overall) drew first blood in the opening minutes of the match. Just 3:57 into the first period senior Arkangelo James took a pass from classmate Lamine Balde at the top of the box and fired the ball past Marietta keeper
Chris Stollar (Marietta/Marietta) for the goal.
Riley evened the score at 1-1 in the 28th minute. A botched clear by the Bethany keeper Callum Appleby was controlled by Riley who slipped the ball into the back of the net.
Nine minutes later Riley put the Pioneers in front. Junior
Andrew Matakovich (Amherst/Amherst Steele) sent a cross to the back post where Riley buried the ball in the open net for a 2-1 lead. Marietta took the one goal lead into halftime.
Statistically, the match was even in shots, corner kicks and saves. However, Bethany committed 15 fouls to just six for Marietta. That difference may have cost the Bison the match as the Pioneers scored the game winner off a free kick following a Bethany foul.
Junior
Scott Eilmann (North Royalton/North Royalton) took the free kick and fed the ball to Riley at the top of the box. Riley found senior
Lucas Eick (Hartville/Marlington) open for the shot and he delivered the goal for a 3-1 Marietta lead at the 63:33 mark.
Bethany trimmed the Pioneer lead to one with a goal six minutes later. Again it was the senior duo of Balde and James delivering for the Bison. Balde sent a long cross in to the box and James finished it off.
Bethany kept the pressure on Marietta but could not get the equalizer.
For the match, both teams took 14 shots and three corner kicks. Stollar had five saves in goal for the Pioneers, as did Bethany's Appleby.
Marietta travels to La Roche College (Pa.) on Saturday (Sept. 21) for a 3:00 p.m. match. Fans can follow the Pioneers all season long at
pioneers.marietta.edu. You can also follow the Pioneers on Facebook at
facebook.com/MariettaCollege and @MariettaPioneer on Twitter.
