Hitting the road to continue Southern Conference play, the VMI men’s soccer team dropped a 6-1 decision to host Wofford College Saturday afternoon at Snyder Field in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
The Terriers outpaced the Keydets in shot attempts by a 9-4 margin in the first half and 15-7 ratio in the second en route to the win, converting three goals in the opening 45 minutes and adding three more in the second half.
Wofford’s Nicky Watson began the scoring for the Terriers midway through the first half (23:45) on a penalty kick. The teams exchanged shots for the ensuing 15 minutes before Sam Ross and Robin Hupin scored two more for the Terriers with just minutes before the break to give Wofford a 3-0 advantage at the half.
VMI junior Sam Moffatt scored his second goal of the year on a rebound at the 61:27 mark. Fellow junior Campbell Wood took a shot just seconds before that was deflected and bounced in the direction of Moffatt, who shot it into an open net to trim the Wofford lead to 3-1.
The Terriers would go on to score three more goals in the final 25 minutes to log the final tally of 6-1. Matthew Aurednik, Ross and Hupin led Wofford with three shot attempts apiece, while VMI’s Jonathan Martinez paced the Keydets with three. VMI’s Brienno Illari, Dan Geyer and Grant Austin each registered two shot attempts.
Despite a season-high nine saves throughout the game, VMI sophomore keeper Robert Allen was given the loss while Wofford’s Joe Wichman earned the win with six saves.
VMI will take a step out of conference with a matchup at Virginia Tech Tuesday evening. Kickoff is slated for a 6 p.m. start in Blacksburg, Virginia.