CONWAY, Ark. – Senior Joseph Buete recorded his first career brace after scoring the game winning goal in overtime to lift UAB men’s soccer (1-0) over Central Arkansas (0-1) by a score of 3-2 on Saturday afternoon.
Buete got the Blazers on the board early sending a ball from Santiago Herrera into the bottom left corner of the net just eight minutes into the game.
The Bears answered back just seven minutes later after goalkeeper DJ Lynch was called for a penalty, resulting in a penalty kick for Central Arkansas. Soren Jensen converted the ensuing penalty kick to tie things up at one a piece.
The score would remain knotted at 1-1 going into halftime.
Central Arkansas came out of the half firing, scoring in the 53rd minute to take the 2-1 lead. The Bears fired off a number of shots that were stopped by Lynch before Edoardo Calzola found the bottom left corner of the goal.
The Blazers made a change in goal in the 56th minute as freshman Caelan Whitehead came on to replace Lynch.
In the 61st minute of action, Aodhán O’Hara drew a foul from a UCA defender inside the box setting up a UAB penalty kick. O’Hara capitalized burying the ball in the back of the net from the penalty spot to equalize.
The score would hold at the end of 90 minutes forcing a 10-minute overtime period.
In the 95th minute of overtime, freshman Tyrell Price sent a ball inside the box to Buete who finished it off in the bottom right corner for the golden goal to give the Blazers a 3-2 victory.
“I thought it was typical of a first game in a season,” said head coach Jeff Kinney. “Both teams had some chances, and we were fortunate to finish ours. The ones we created were very good goals and we obviously want to continue to build on that. The bench stepped up when we needed them, and the boys showed resolve in coming from a goal down to find a way to win. I think for everyone it felt good to be competing again doing what we love.”
UAB tallied three shots on goal to UCA’s seven with Lynch and Whitehead combining for three saves in the match for the Green and Gold.
The Blazers will travel to Statesboro, Ga. next Saturday Sept. 26, to face Georgia Southern.
Men’s soccer season tickets are on sale by purchasing the 2020-21 Gold Card for $65 here. The Gold Card is an exclusive offer that grants you admission into all UAB men’s and women’s soccer, volleyball, women’s basketball, baseball and softball events for the upcoming academic year. Contact the UAB Ticket Office at (205) 975-UAB1 for more details.
For more information on the UAB men’s soccer team, follow @UAB_MSoc on Twitter and Instagram.
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