NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Enoch Brako scored late in the first half and the Tusculum University defense made it stand for a 1-0 victory over Trevecca Nazarene University in non-conference men’s soccer Wednesday night.
Brako’s first career goal came in the 41st minute for the Pioneers (3-5-1), while Noe Delmotte made three saves to earn his second straight shutout. Tusculum outshot Trevecca (3-6-1) by a 9-8 margin in the match to stretch its unbeaten streak to three matches (two wins, one draw) over the past week.
Trevecca Nazarene had the first shot on goal in the match, but the header attempt from Callum Geoghegan in the second minute was stopped by Delmotte. The Pioneers had scoring chances in the 11th and 31st minutes, but Trojans keeper Hunter Walker made saves on Mason Clark and Elliot Edwards.
In the 39th minute, Tusculum’s Pedro Avila received a long pass from Linus Salomonsen and was able to get a shot from the top of the box, but Walker collected the bouncing attempt.
Brako gave the Pioneers a 1-0 lead with 4:51 left in the first half as he won a loose ball in the box off an Edwards corner kick and beat Walker to the top corner for his first goal of the season.
Trevecca nearly leveled the score just over a minute later, but Delmotte was able to smother and gather a shot by Daniel Shiel off a cross. Tusculum would take the 1-0 lead into intermission with a 6-4 advantage in shot attempts.
In the second half, the Pioneers had a great chance in the 54th minute as Hugo Le Floch got behind the defense, but was denied by a challenging Walker. Delmotte made his first save of the second half in the 72nd minute as he pulled in a one-hop shot from distance by Shiel.
Shiel would have another opportunity with under eight minutes to play, but his shot from a sharp angle sailed up and over the crossbar. Tusculum’s defense would slam the door on the Trojans down the stretch, as that would be the Trojans’ final shot attempt of the evening.
Walker finished with five saves for the Trojans, who allowed eight corners to the Pioneers while taking just one for themselves. Tusculum was flagged eight times for offsides and had 12 fouls to seven for Trevecca Nazarene.
Tusculum will go back on the road for a South Atlantic Conference match at Catawba on Saturday, Oct. 11 at 5:00 p.m. The Catawba Indians are 4-3-1 overall and 1-2-1 in SAC play, and have been idle since a 3-1 home loss to nationally-ranked Anderson on Saturday.
