by Kevin Buczek
WILSON, N.C.-The Barton College men's soccer team will try and carry the momentum of a three-match win streak and moving up one spot in the Southeast Region Poll into its non-conference clash with University of North Carolina at Pembroke on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
UNCP sports information will be providing Live Stats for Wednesday's contest.
Barton soccer fans can follow the Bulldogs throughout the season on BartonBulldogs.com and via social media including Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Barton College Men's Soccer
The Bulldogs picked up a 4-0 win in their Conference Carolinas opener against North Greenville University on Saturday. Barton improved to 5-1 overall with its third consecutive victory.
The NSCAA has moved Barton up one spot to fourth in the current Continental Tire Southeast Region Top-10 Poll. The Bulldogs are also now getting votes in the new national top-25 poll.
Senior Erik Pajunk has scored in three consecutive games and was awarded Conference Carolinas Player of the Week laurels on Tuesday.
Pajunk is tied with senior Dante De Luca and sophomore Alex David for the team-lead in goals scored at four apiece. Pajunk also has three assists for a team-best 11 points.
The Bulldogs are averaging 2.83 goals per game, which is tied for 10th nationally out of 193 programs.
Junior Kevin Strassburger leads a pack of four other Bulldogs goal scorers on the year with two goals and two assists.
Freshman Jens Madsen Hordvik (3-1, 1.18 GAA, .762%) and junior Derek Collins (2-0, 1.12 GAA, .600 SV%) have split time in net for BC and each have one shutout.
Barton – 2-1 on the road this season – lost 1-0 to UNCP last season despite holding a slight 11-10 shot edge. Barton head coach Matt Akins is still searching for his first win against the in-state rivals (0-7).
UNC Pembroke Men's Soccer
The Braves two straight double-overtime draws against Brevard College (3-3) and University of Montevallo (0-0) and are still searching for their first win on the season at 0-3-2 overall. UNC Pembroke is 0-1-1 at home.
UNCP has been shutout in four of its first five matches. Senior Sam Miles, senior Brett Luccia and junior Branco Theis has the Braves goals in their tie against the Tornado.
Miles – a three-time all-conference award winner in the Peach Belt Conference – has 29 career goals for UNC Pembroke.
Freshman goalie Kenneth Perkinson has taken over in net for the Braves playing every minute. Perkinson is coming off his first collegiate shutout to improve his season totals to a 1.29 goals against average and .750 save percentage.
Senior Kevin Vigebo scored the Braves game-winning goal in last year's 1-nil victory at Barton.
