Box Score by Benny Benton
LAURINBURG, N.C.–Barton College junior Dante De Luca scored his second goal of the match with 2:33 left in regulation, lifting the Bulldogs to a 4-3 non-conference victory over host St. Andrews University in a windy downpour Tuesday afternoon at Knights Field.
De Luca, who was named Conference Carolinas Men's Soccer Player of the Week just hours earlier, provided the game-winner off an assist from junior Erik Pajunk, who also scored Barton's first goal of the contest. De Luca also added a pair of assists, giving him six for the season.
"I've asked Dante to make his mark in the game, whether it's on the defensive side or just on the ball dictating the pace of the game," Barton head coach Matt Akins said. "In the last few games, he has done that, and it's been three quality wins."
Kevin Strassburger contributed the other goal and an assist for the Bulldogs, who won their third straight match, all on the road, to improve to 4-5-1 on the season. St. Andrews, a member of the NAIA Appalachian Athletic Conference, moved to 5-8 on the year.
"We have a tough spell early in the season, but anyone who knew our program knew that we were a lot better than the results we were getting," Akins said. "We knew by staying strong and staying positive, things would even out and we would get our breaks. Right now we're getting them."
The Knights sported their conference's reigning Player of the Week as well in Zimiso Stewart, and like De Luca for the Bulldogs, he reminded fans why in the match, scoring each of St. Andrews' first two goals. The strikes gave the sophomore from Pretoria, South Africa, a team-high seven goals and 14 points on the season.
Both keepers were under fire all day as the two squads combined for 29 shots, 18 of those on frame. St. Andrews keeper Leandro Custodio posted seven saves for the Knights, while senior Vasily Yakimkin recorded four in the win for Barton.
St. Andrews did not take a shot for the first 16 minutes of the match, but Stewart made the most of the first attempt for his team, beating Yakimkin to give the Knights a 1-0 advantage with 28:20 left in the opening period.
The lead lasted all of 46 seconds, however, as Barton's next shot was a goal by Pajunk from outside the box into the upper corner to tie the match at 1-all.
Yakimkin stopped a Stewart shot in the 24th minute, but his next attempt three minutes later found the net, putting the Knights back in front, 2-1. Breno Calegari provided his team-high fourth assist of the year on the play.
As it had done on St. Andrews' first goal, however, the Bulldogs struck right back, with De Luca scoring his first goal of the day on a header just 1:13 later to knot the match at 2-all.
Strassburger missed on two shot attempts in the final 10 minutes of the half for Barton, one of those saved by Custodio, but his third try during that span – off a touch from De Luca – was successful with 4:22 left, giving the Bulldogs a 3-2 lead that they took to intermission.
After a couple of attempts for Barton early in the second period were stopped by Custodio, St. Andrews tied the match at 3-all midway through the period on Caio Lima's fifth goal of the year off an assist by Mikel Azcona.
Archer Bane nearly answered five minutes later, but his attempt bounced off the crossbar. Two other shots were saved by Custodio between the 75th and 80th minutes.
De Luca took a shot that missed wide with 3:52 to play, but a minute and a half later struck for the game-winner off the assist from Pajunk.
St. Andrews took one last shot at the buzzer, but Caio Liberatti's attempt was wide.
Barton will return to Conference Carolinas play on Saturday with its fourth straight road match, this one at Belmont Abbey College.
