The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Davidson
Blazers Tie Davidson, 2-2, In Nike Classic Opener
9/19/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Sept. 19, 2008
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The UAB men's soccer team battled Davidson to a 2-2 tie in the opening round of the Charlotte Nike Classic on Friday afternoon. The Blazers held a lead on two separate occasions, but could not hold on for a win.
UAB (2-3-2) opened the scoring in the 12th minute of action when senior Shane Elsner headed home a cross from senior Logan Alexander to give the Blazers a 1-0 lead. Elsner's goal was his second of the campaign, both coming off headers.
But the Wildcats (1-5-1) would answer at the 29:14 mark when Alex Caskey beat a defender and finished a shot past UAB goalkeeper Carl Woszczynski to even the score at 1-1. The score would remain that way as both teams went into halftime.
The teams went back-and-forth for a majority of the second half until the Blazers finally capitalized at the 84:14 mark. Senior Carlo Schiavoni sent a corner kick into the box that found the head of sophomore Michal Mravec. The Zilina, Slovakia native was able to pound home a header to give UAB a 2-1 advantage with just over five minutes remaining in regulation.
However, the lead would not hold up as just over two minutes later, at the 86:43 mark, Davidson equalized on a shot from Yannick Pilgrim. Neither team was able to find the back of the net in the overtime periods.
Davidson outshot UAB, 22-18 during the course of the game and also had an 11-6 advantage in corner kicks. Woszczynski finished the contest with a career-best eight saves, while two Wildcat goalkeepers combined to make six saves in the match.
The Blazers will next play Charlotte in the Nike Classic finale on Sunday, at 2:30 p.m. The match can be followed live on Gametracker by logging onto the UAB athletics website at uabsports.com.
