The Patriots were defeated by Lenoir-Rhyne University in a hard-fought match at Hartzler Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 14. The Patriot men came out early in the first half but were not able to tie the game after Lenoir-Rhyne’s Bears responded with a quick goal subsequent to the Patriot’s. The Bears then scored an early goal in the second half.

The Patriots took a break from their typical Peach Belt Conference (PBC) opponents during this game to play Lenoir-Rhyne University, a school in the South Atlantic Conference.

Oliver Drakenhammar, junior forward, scored the first of goal of the match in the 19th minute of a play off from a cross by fellow junior Gaspard Mianne, who played into the six yard box. Drakenhammar was able to slip the ball past Lenoir-Rhyne’s senior goalkeeper Zach King.

Lenoir-Rhyne quickly responded with a goal in the 20th minute to tie the score.

The teams continued to battle into the second half. The Bears were able to gain the upper hand shortly into the second half after capitalizing on momentum brought by three consecutive shots within a 22-second period.

The Patriots and the Bears battled hard, but the Patriots were not able to overcome this final goal. Unlike the first half, in which the Patriots were able to match the shot numbers by Lenoir-Rhyne (6-6), they only posted one to the 11 that their opponent made in the second half. FMU’s only shot in the second half was the result of a header by sophomore Julian Kersting.

This loss put the Patriots at an overall season record with six wins, six losses and no ties.

Goalkeeper Raul Guillamon Bejar posted four saves for the Patriots, and Zach King from Lenoir- Rhyne posted three. Lenoir- Rhyne led the Patriots 17-7 with shots and 6-5 with corner kicks.

There were five yellow cards in the game, three of which were posted by the Patriots’ Julian Kersting, Jonas Dovland and Matthew Bainbridge.

Junior forward Levin Sandmann led the Patriots in shots with three out of the seven made by FMU.