GREENSBORO, N.C.—Greensboro College’s Austin Abourjilie (Greensboro, N.C./Northwest Guilford/William Peace) tallied four second-half goals while Davis Miller scored his 100th-career goal as the Pride claimed a Wednesday afternoon USA South Athletic Conference (USA South) victory over William Peace University, 17-9.
Miller’s first goal of the game came at the 5:12 mark in the second quarter as goalkeeper Christopher Stallings lead a good clear into the box where he found Miller on the left post for his 100th-career goal.
William Peace claimed a 3-1 lead through the first quarter on a pair of Riely Murray goals. The Pride began to catch momentum in the second quarter when Miller claimed his second-straight goal 38 seconds after scoring the 100th of his career. Miller converted on the man-advantage as the Pride evened the contest, 4-4. William Peace scored three of the next four goals in the period to head into halftime with the lead, 7-5.
Abourjilie got on the board for the first time with the third quarter’s first goal 6:02 into the period. After the Pacers scored to claim a two-goal lead, the Pride responded with four unanswered goals, including two Spencer Kontoulas (Greensboro, N.C./Northern Guilford) goals, as the Pride jumped ahead.
Abourjilie closed the third quarter with his second goal of the game with five seconds left in the period. That sparked a stretch of seven-unanswered goals from the Pride in the rest of the contest, with Abourjilie scoring three of the first four in that stretch to lead Greensboro to a victory.
Abourjilie along with William Beyer (Greensboro, N.C./Northern Guilford (three goals, one assist) and Kontoulas (three goals, one assist) lead the Pride with four points each. Miller totaled three goals and three ground balls. Ethan Pierce added two goals for his first goals of the season. Tommy Barrett and Aidan Karmazinski led the Pride’s long poles with four ground balls and three caused turnovers each.
Nick Falso led William Peace with two goals and one assist. August Bynum added two more goals for the Pacers while Patrick Calhoun tallied six ground balls and a caused turnover.
The Pride outshot the Pacers, 42-33, while holding a 30-24 edge in shots on goal. The Pride posted a 26-for-28 advantage on clears compared to William Peace’s 25-34. The Pride went two-for-two on the man-up compared to William Peace’s one-for-three while also claiming a 19-10 edge in faceoff wins.
Stallings (7-1) took the win for the Pride in net, making 15 saves and adding three ground balls and an assist.
Kuleul Moore (1-5) claimed the loss for William Peace, stopping 13 shots and posting five ground balls.
Off to their best start (6-1, 2-1 USA South) since the 2009 squad opened the season 7-1, the Pride return to action Tuesday, March 30th to face Methodist University in a 6 p.m. USA South contest in Fayetteville, N.C.
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Courtesy of Bryan Jones, Greensboro College Sports Information Director