Box Score by Benny Benton
WILSON, N.C. – A late goal by Rodrigo Neves brought Barton College's biggest crowd of the season to life, but the excitement was brief as rival University of Mount Olive scored three minutes later to seal a 3-1 Conference Carolinas victory Tuesday night at the Barton Outdoor Athletic Complex.
Playing short-handed after a first-half red card and trailing 2-0 since the 59th minute, the Bulldogs (1-6, 0-3) were re-energized when Neves scored his team-leading third goal of the year with 5:08 to play. The Brazilian struck from the far post after receiving a corner kick from sophomore Danny Peru.
However, hope of forcing overtime was dashed with 2:02 to go when Mount Olive's Bright Eto drove the left wing and crossed the ball into the middle to Azzam Dhamra for a goal that sealed the Trojans' first win in Wilson since 2007. With the victory, Mount Olive improved to 4-2 overall and 3-0 in league play.
The Bulldogs fought an uphill battle from the 26th minute, when freshman Dion Gauthier was ejected after a collision with Mount Olive keeper Nick Bernsdorf while going for a ball near the UMO net. The two sides also combined to receive seven yellow cards in the contest and were whistled for 43 fouls, the most in a Barton match in at least four seasons.
The Trojans capitalized on the man advantage by forcing tempo, and finished the half with a 10-2 edge in shots. The last of those attempts found the net with 1:13 left in the period, as Trevor Knight scored from the left post after a touch pass from the right side of the box by Cooper Gaypia.
Despite being a man down, Barton actually enjoyed a 7-5 advantage in shots in the second half. However, many of those attempts came during desperation time after the Bulldogs fell behind 2-0 on a goal by Kevin Lopez 14 minutes into the second half. Louis Gorman set up the goal by driving down the middle and the dishing the ball off to Lopez on the left wing.
BC greatly increased its offensive intensity in the final 10 minutes, resulting in two other shot attempts by Neves before his goal off the corner kick. Barton had one shot attempt while the score was cut to 2-1, but the try by Craig Edwards was stopped by Bernsdorf. Both UMO's keeper and Barton's Jens Madsen Hordvik had three saves each in the contest.
Barton will play its next four matches on the road, beginning with a 4 p.m. contest on Saturday at Southern Wesleyan University.
