The fourth time was the charm for the Francis Marion University men’s soccer team, which won its first home match of the season on Tuesday, Oct. 2, with a 4-1 victory against the Pfeiffer UniversityFalcons (0-10-1).
After home losses to Catawba University, Flagler University and local rival Coker University, the Patriots finally prevailed for their first triumph at new Hartzler Field.
Two junior forwards stole the day for Francis Marion. Biology major Alex Blandinand business marketing major Cody Farrier each scored two goals.
But even with the accomplishments of Blandin and Farrier, sophomore goalkeeper Logan Fisher, a double major in management and marketing appearing in his first match, may have been the story of the battle.
Fisher was glad to be on the field.
“It was great to finally get to play,” Fisher said. “It took a long time, but I have been training for it for the last year and I am glad I have put all my hard work to use.”
In addition to his two goals, Blandin also had a few assists, which brought him to a career-high six points in the match.Blandinscored thefirst goal of the match when hefired a shot from 15 yards directly in front of the goal.
Farrier scored the next goalafter freshman midfielder Pascal Magiera and Blandin assisted him.
Farrier and Blandin would each go on to score another goal before the match reached its conclusion.
Blandin was pleased with his team’s efforts after the match.
“It was a good team win,” Blandin said. “We are still learning from each other and getting to know how everyone plays, but I think we are really coming together.”
Blandin also acknowledged that his club had some tough matches ahead of them.
Pfeiffer managed to avoid a shutout whenjunior forward Robbie Rogers collected a loose ball and nailed a 20-yard shot just out of the reach of Fisher.
In the end,FMU led the match with 25 shots to Pfeiffer’s seven while the Falcons led the game in saves though, recording five saves to FMU’s zero.