ETSU Men’s Soccer battled the University of South Carolina Upstate Spartans at home in Summers-Taylor Stadium on Tuesday, Sept. 5.  

During a hard-fought first half, the Bucs fell short going into halftime, losing 2-0.  

“From the first half, from the outside looking in, it can be frustrating as a coach because you see what can be going wrong and you try to fix it. I thought the standards were not at what we have held ourselves to in recent times,” said head coach David Lilly.  

The second half started with pushes from seniors Gabriel Ramos (Sao Paulo, Brazil) and Tarik Pannholzer (Flensburg, Germany) at the goalpost. Ramos earned a free shot, which the goalkeeper for USC Upstate blocked. Pannholzer also attempted shots, along with senior Kieran Richards (Hamilton, New Zealand), freshman Lucas Nordin (Knoxville, Tennessee) and freshman Louie Salkeld (Newcastle, England). 

“We didn’t need to talk about anything tactical at halftime. I think the guys already knew. It was a matter of energy and mentality, and they did a good job responding. I was pleased they showed the version of themselves that they can be,” said Lilly. 

The team fueled their energy with the first goal at minute 65 made by Pannholzer with an assist from Ramos.  

Richard scored the second goal of the night for ETSU in minute 77. 

“We knew we had to change something. We scored the first goal which gave us some momentum. Then they got a red card which played in our cards. We knew we would score the second one, and at the end, we just ran out of time,” said Pannholzer. 

No other goals were scored by either team, resulting in a tied score of 2-2 at the end of the 90 minutes of play. 

The Bucs’ playing style for the night could easily be classified as tough and aggressive. They outshot the competitor 35-9 with 15 shots on the goal in the second half compared to the Spartans’ 6 shots on goal. 

Photo of the ETSU men’s soccer team before the game against USC Upstate. (Seneca Rulison/East Tennessean)

“When you look at the first half it was not who we are and who we want to be. During halftime, we had time to rethink a few things and get our stuff together. If you look at the second half, that’s who we really want to be. That’s who we strive to be,” Pannholzer said. “Sometimes we have to learn the hard way . . . If we learned one thing, it is that we have to take every game seriously, and we have to give 120 percent.” 

You can catch the team back in action at home on Tuesday, Sept. 12, as they take on the Radford Highlanders at 7 p.m.

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