Coulter earns his seventh shutout of the year as Bucs collect a point in the standings

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (October 14, 2011) –On a night where both teams had scoring chances, neither ETSU or Stetson could find the back of the net as the Buccaneers played the Hatters to a scoreless draw on Friday night at Summers-Taylor Stadium.
 
Meeting for the first time since the 2010 Atlantic Sun Tournament Championship, the Buccaneers (7-4-2, 1-3-1 A-Sun) couldn’t find the magical touch they had a year ago as ETSU saw a golden opportunity to pull out a win in the second overtime slip by the wayside.

Redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Ryan Coulter (Dublin, Ireland) made three saves en route to his seventh shutout of the season. Coulter was equaled by the performance of Stetson’s (4-5-2, 1-1-1 A-Sun) Andreas Schnabl, who recorded a shutout of his own to end the game at a 110 minute stalemate.

The stat line showed Stetson favored 15-11 in shots, as both teams took four corners but could not create a goal from any.

A shot by redshirt junior David Haba (Germantown, Tenn.) got things going at the 3:50 mark, but Haba’s shot was saved by Schnabl. The save was one of Schnabl’s five throughout the night.

The Hatters were the more convincing side through the opening half, beating the Bucs to the ball and creating more opportunities for a goal. Stetson’s lone shot on goal of the first half came in the 32nd minute when Jonathan Mendoza, the team’s leading goal scorer, put a shot towards goal that was stopped by Coulter. Mendoza’s first half attempt was his only shot of the night.

At the break, ETSU had recorded just two shots to Stetson’s six, while also giving the Hatters two opportunities from the corner and earning none.

Stetson came out with two shots in the second half’s first two minutes, but had its attempts blocked and saved. The Bucs responded with back-to-back shots from Haba and sophomore Blaike Woodruff (Georgetown, Texas), but neither of the Buccaneer attempts reached Schnabl.

In the 83rd minute, Steven Saballos gave Stetson its best scoring chance of the night. Saballos got free down the left side with under eight minutes to play in regulation, and found himself staring down Coulter who was creeping towards the ball. Saballos fired to Coulter’s left, but the Irish keeper dove and grabbed the shot to keep the Hatters off the board.

Scoreless after 90 minutes, the two squads headed for two 10 minute overtime sessions with Stetson still edging ETSU 12-6 in shot attempts.

The overtimes belonged to the Bucs, as ETSU outshot Stetson 5-3 in the two sessions while also earning three corner kicks to the Hatters’ zero.

In the second extra session, sophomore David Geno (Kingsport, Tenn.) put the crowd on the edge of their seats with a near game-winner. Junior Alesi Osorio (Austin, Texas) received a long pass and sprinted down the right side of the field. As Osorio was going towards the corner, Geno came up into the box undetected by the Hatters’ defense. Spotting the chance, Osorio found Geno with a cross through three Stetson defenders and suddenly Geno was all alone with the ball in the center of the penalty area and just Schnabl in front. Geno fired to Schnabl’s left, and to the disappointment of the Johnson City crowd Schnabl guessed correctly and saved Stetson from defeat.

The match played out the remaining five minutes and the Hatters and Bucs each walked away with one point towards the conference standings.

The Buccaneers play their second home match of the weekend when Florida Gulf Coast (6-3-2, 3-0-0 A-Sun) walks into Summers-Taylor Stadium for a Sunday afternoon matchup at 1 p.m.

For more information on ETSU men’s soccer please visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the men’s soccer links.