The ETSU men’s soccer team played its last home match of the regular season on Saturday night.

The Bucs faced the conference-­leading University of North Carolina-­Greensboro and battled them to a 1-­1 tie.

Other than being the final home match of the regular season, it was also senior night at Summers­-Taylor Stadium. The Buccaneers honored were James Smith, Donte Bragman and Henrique Novaes.

Novaes played his first full match of the season and took one shot in the match.

“It was very demanding and tiring to play the full game, but it was great, and I look forward to playing here at home in the tournament,” said Novaes.

The Buccaneers got on the scoreboard first after a scoreless first half. Fletcher Ekern scored his eighth goal of the season, getting the assist from Cameron Woodfin in the 51st minute to put ETSU up 1­-0.

The Spartans answered back quickly in the 63rd minute when Damieon Thomas got the assist from Jacques Francois to score his sixth goal of the season and tie the game at 1­-1.

UNCG had a total of 23 shots in the match, while they held the Bucs to just four shots and two shots on goal. UNCG took 13 of its shots in the second period, and five came in the second overtime.

UNCG had a total of 12 corner kicks and was held to two corner kicks, both of which came in the first period.

There were a total of four yellow cards given out in the match, three of which were given to UNCG. The one that went against ETSU was issued to Richmond Taylor in the 71st minute.

The Bucs will be back at home next Saturday against the Wofford Terriers in the quarter-finals of the Southern Conference tournament.

UNCG earned the No. 1 seed in the tournament with the tie.

ETSU will go into the conference tournament with an overall record of 7-­6-­3 and a conference record of 4­-4­-2.

With the tie, ETSU finished the season fourth in the Southern Conference, just one game behind Mercer and just ahead of the Wofford Terriers.

“We had a great opportunity to play the No. 1 seed at home, and we did a good job holding them to a draw,” said coach Bo Oshoniyi. “This is a big confidence builder for us going into Wofford, and we’re excited to go into the SoCon tournament at home. It’s what we’ve played for all year.”

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  • Alex Baker

    Alex Baker is a senior majoring in journalism. Originally from Knoxville, he graduated from Bearden High School in 2011. Baker enjoys watching sports and is a big fan of horse racing. He has even attended the Kentucky Derby several times. He enjoys writing as a creative outlet and has several family members in the journalism business.

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