GREENSBORO, N.C. – Seth Garrison’s (Whitsett, N.C./Southeast Guilford) late first-half goal broke a 1-1 tie to propel Guilford College to a Saturday afternoon victory over Laurel University, 3-1.
The match’s first goal came in an unusual fashion when Christian Torres (Greensboro, N.C./Southeast Guilford) took advantage of an early mistake from the Lions in the third minute when Tristian Walker fumble the ball inside his six-yard box. Torres, within a yard of Walker, poked the ball from under him into the net to give the Quakers the early lead.
Laurel countered in the 16th minute on a Josh Coupar free kick, which setup B.J. Collins, who headed the ball into the net to tie the score.
A Lions collision at midfield created the Quakers final opportunity in the first half when Jake Grieco seized the ball and fed Garrison up the middle, who booted the ball up the middle of the goal to re-claim the lead, 2-1. Laurel claimed five of the next seven shots in the second half until the 78th minute when the Quakers’ Edgar Solis put the match on ice with header feed from Garrison on a corner kick.
The Quakers out-shot the Lions, 14-13, with both teams combining for nine second-half shots. Guilford held the advantage on corner kicks, 9-5, while holding the lead on fouls, 20-9.
Eric Hayes made seven saves in net for the Quakers. Tristian Walker stopped two shots in net for the Lions while Tony Ramirez finished the final 11 minutes of the contest after Walker exited the contest due to injury.
The Quakers (3-1) return to action Wednesday to face cross-town rival Greensboro College for a 4 p.m. contest at Bryan Park’s Macpherson Stadium.