by Benny Benton
WILSON, N.C. – Barton College will face Lees-McRae College in a key Conference Carolinas matchup of regionally-ranked men's soccer programs 3 p.m. Saturday at the Barton Outdoor Athletics Complex.
The Bulldogs, ranked No. 6 in this week's NSCAA/Continental Tire NCAA Division II Southeast Region Poll, are in third place in the league standings, three points (one win) behind second-place Pfeiffer University and two points ahead of the fourth-place Bobcats, which will bring a No. 9 Southeast Region ranking into the contest.
The match will be the fourth in a row for the Bulldogs against a team currently holding a regional ranking. Barton won the previous three, beating Pfeiffer (No. 8 in the Southeast), 3-0, Erskine College (No. 10 in the Southeast), 3-2, and Chowan University (No. 8 in the Atlantic), 2-1.
The contest will be held as part of Homecoming activities at Barton, and will also serve as Senior Day. Five seniors will be honored following the game, Barton's last home match of the regular-season.
Barton sports information will provide live stats for Saturday's match.
Barton soccer fans can follow the Bulldogs all season on www.BartonBulldogs.com and via social media including Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Barton College Men's Soccer
The Bulldogs (10-4, 5-2) claimed their fifth straight win overall Wednesday with the victory over Chowan. Barton has outscored its opponents 12-3 in that span and has recorded four straight multi-goal games.
Senior Dante De Luca has recorded points in all five matches, including the game-winning goal against the Hawks. He is the reigning Conference Carolinas Player of the Week, and now leads the team with seven goals.
De Luca's header was scored off a corner kick from fellow senior and fellow Brazilian Erik Pajunk, who provided the assist on both goals Wednesday night. Pajunk now leads the team in assists with six, and is tied with De Luca for the team lead in points with 18.
A total of seven different players have scored for Barton in its five-match winning streak. Other offensive leaders include Alex David (5G, 3A), Jonathan Rembecki (4G, 2A) and Kevin Strassburger (3G, 4A).
Defensively, Barton has held two national top-20 offenses – Pfeiffer and Chowan – to just one combined goal in recent matches. The Bulldog starting back row of Nick Ahlquist, Drew Williams, Jovan Gracia and Tyler Dew led the effort to limit the Hawks to just nine shots on Wednesday.
Freshman keeper Jens Madsen Hordvik is fourth in the conference in goals against average (1.37) and has posted four shutouts.
Barton has claimed narrow 1-0 victories over the Bobcats each of the past two seasons. Ahlquist scored the game-winner two years ago in overtime off an assist from De Luca, and Danilo Matos provided the game-winner last season off assists from De Luca and Pajunk.
Lees-McRae College Men's Soccer
The Bobcats (9-4-1, 4-2-1) have won their last two matches, defeating Belmont Abbey College 4-2 and North Greenville University 3-1.
LMC fell behind 2-0 in the first 20 minutes against Belmont Abbey, but stormed back to score all four of its goals in a 10-minute span before halftime. Against North Greenville, senior James Galvani provided a pair of goals to lead in the win.
Galvani and fellow senior Englishman James Smith are the top offensive weapons for the Bobcats. Galvani, a two-time all-region performer, is second in the league and 25th nationally in goals scored with 10. Smith, who was all-region as a freshman, has seven goals and seven assists. Both players rank among the top 50 nationally in total points.
Sophomore Nicholas Stover has played the last six matches in goal for Lees-McRae. Stover has recorded an 0.98 goals against average and .786 save percentage while collecting 22 saves.
As a team, Lees-McRae is just eighth in the conference in saves per game at 3.29, but the Bobcat keepers haven't been tested often as a result of a defense that is holding opponents to just 11.6 attempts per contest.
