BUIES CREEK, N.C. - Campbell scored twice in the first 8:43 and
went on to defeat Jacksonville 2-1 Saturday night at the Eakes
Athletic Complex to claim its second-straight Atlantic Sun
Conference men's soccer regular season championship.
Goals from Vince Petrasso and Keegan Terry provided the Camels with
the decisive win that lifted the program to its third A-Sun regular
season title in the last five years. Campbell, which has improved
its league record to 32-5-5 during that span, will host the league
semifinals (Nov. 12) and title match (Nov. 14) for the second year
in a row.
"I'm proud of the perseverance we showed through the month of
October after a rough September," said Campbell head coach Doug
Hess. "It was a massive test of our team's will coming into
conference play at 1-6 with the challenge of still believing we're
a better team than our results."
The Camels took the lead in the seventh minute of play when Justin
Madrid dribbled through the midfield and slipped a through pass to
Petrasso behind the JU back line. The senior slid a left-footed
shot by keeper Joey Sanchez for his fourth goal of the season.
Just two minutes later, the Camels doubled the advantage when
freshman Terry nodded home his fourth strike of the year. Cardenas
touched a corner kick to Petrasso, who stopped the ball for
Cardenas to deliver a left-footed service that Terry met about 10
yards from the net.
Jacksonville's best chance of the first half came in the 11th
minute when Nedim Hrustic turned at the top of the box, but his
right-footed effort slid wide of the left post.
The Dolphins pulled within 2-1 in the 53rd minute when Eddie
Munnelly stole a pass in the midfield and scored on a long shot
that deflected off Camel keeper Ted Awana's hands and into the
net.
Campbell nearly pushed the margin back to a pair of goals in the
62nd minute when Petrasso laid the ball off to Terry, but his
right-footed blast sailed high and wide of the upper right
corner.
JU forward Tyler Williams twice had chances to equalize, but his
63rd minute shot was stopped by Awana, and his 82nd minute effort
slipped just wide of the post.
"It was a well-contested game. We played well in the first half
and did well to score on our first two chances of the game. As
expected, Jacksonville wasn't just going to go away," said
Hess.
Jacksonville, which upset top-seeded Campbell in last year's A-Sun
final, dropped to 5-11-1 overall, 3-6-0 in the league. The
Dolphins finished with a 13-8 edge in shots, 5-3 in attempts on
target.
The Camels (8-8-1, 7-1-1) have lost only once in their last 21
Atlantic Sun regular season games (18-1-2). Petrasso has accounted
for 22 points (7 goals, 8 assists) in his last 16 A-Sun regular
season games dating to 2008. He leads the A-Sun with 10 assists
this year.
Campbell improved to 7-1-1 in its last nine games against the
Dolphins. Seven of those contests victories were decided by single
goals. CU leads the all-time series 9-4-4.
The Fighting Camels return to action Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. in its
home regular season finale against Davidson.
