Box Score by Benny Benton
WILSON, N.C.-Barton College junior Dante De Luca scored his first goal of the season early in the second period to send the Bulldogs' soccer match with Catawba College to overtime, but the Indians used a strike from Declan Stimson six minutes into the extra period to claim a 2-1 non-conference victory Saturday night at the Barton Soccer Field.
The victory came in Catawba's 2013 debut. The loss dropped the Bulldogs to 0-2 on the young season.
The winning goal was set up by a free kick from five yards inside Barton's half following a Bulldog foul. Domhnall Minogue served the ball deep into the Barton box, where Kenny Bonilla touched it to Stimson for the game-winning shot from close range.
Bonilla also scored Catawba's first goal of the night in the 47th minute on an unassisted shot from the left wing, and has three goals and an assist the past two years against Barton in leading the Indians to a pair of wins.
After Bonilla's score gave Catawba a 1-0 advantage in this year's battle, it took less than two minutes for Barton to even the score again. De Luca, the Bulldogs' leading scorer last season, received the ball from Kevin Strassburger inside the box on the left-hand side, and blasted a high slicing shot to the right of Catawba keeper Frankie Cardelle.
The Bulldogs recorded eight shots in the contest, but De Luca's goal was one of just two on target. Catawba posted 14 shots, six of those on goal. Vasily Yakimkin recorded four saves in the contest, including one midway through the second period in which he punched the ball over the net on a header from point-blank range by Corey Faughnan.
Barton pushed the attack in the waning moments of regulation, and the effort produced three corner kicks in the final two and a half minutes. The Bulldogs had a great opportunity when De Luca delivered a header from close range with 27 seconds to play, but the ball was deflected wide right, and Erik Pajunk's corner kick with 11 seconds left did not produce a shot.
The Bulldogs will make another attempt to break into the win column on Tuesday when it hosts Francis Marion University in a 7 p.m. contest.
