Following their dominant 7-1 win over No. 19 Morton College on Thursday, the fifth-ranked Eastern Florida State College men’s soccer team was in Baltimore Maryland over the weekend for a pair of games in the Knights Kickoff Classic.
On Saturday, the Titans went up against tournament host CCBC Essex and the scoring barrage continued with a 7-0 drubbing of the Knights. EFSC took 20 shots on goal as a team, led by Aedon Kyra, who had eight shots, including seven shots on goal and netted a hat-trick.
Abdel Kuku got the scoring started 22:33 in, and just over 10 minutes later Levonte Johnson scored his third goal of the season, making it 2-0. The final goal of the first half came off the foot of Marc Grifell who assisted on Johnson’s goal.
Kyra got into the act 11:45 into the second half, beating Knights goalie Jack Roby to give his squad a 4-0 lead. Kyra would score again six minutes later, giving the Knights a five-goal cushion. Schimiliguen Castin assisted on both goals and got an assist on the earlier tally by Kuku.
Kyra would give EFSC a 6-0 lead, as he was able to convert on a penalty kick and complete his hat-trick. Ian Leighton would complete the scoring with his first goal of the season.
Freshman goalkeeper Hayden Sarjian was credited with five saves in Saturday’s victory.
For more info: EFSC @ CCBC Essex Box score
On Sunday, the Titans faced fourth-ranked Monroe College in an early-season top-five tilt. It was everything you would have expected from ranked teams, with the Mustangs escaping with a 4-3 victory.
It was a defensive battle for much of the first half, with Sarjian coming up with three saves in the first half, and Monroe College goalie Victor Camps stopping two. The only save Sarjian couldn’t make in the first half was a shot by Roque Viegas, who scored with 15 seconds before the half expired, off a rebound.
The Mustangs (2-0) would go up 2-0 with an unassisted goal from Luca Erhardt early in the second half. Viegas would strike again just over seven minutes later, giving Monroe a 3-0 lead.
The Titans (2-1) would not go down without a fight and as you would expect, it was Kyra that sparked the Eastern Florida State comeback attempt. He would get a nice feed from Johnson, and beat Camps, to make it a 3-1 game.
Johnson would score a goal of his own just over eight minutes later with a goal off a corner kick, cutting the deficit to one, 3-2.
Erhardt would score the eventual game-winner 11 minutes later, giving the Mustangs a 4-2 lead. Kyra would score his second of the game 1:05 later, converting on a penalty kick. That made it 4-3, but the Titans could not get the equalizer in the remaining 12 minutes.
Sarjian made six saves in Sunday’s contest. He ended the weekend with 11 saves. Very impressive start for a freshman, especially considering the level of competition he faced in this weekend’s games.
For more info: Monroe College Vs EFSC Box Score
With his two tallies in the opener and five goals over the weekend, sophomore Kyra has gotten off to a great start, as has Johnson, who had two goals this weekend, and now has four to start his freshman season.
The Titans return home Friday night to host Laramie County Community College at 6:00 p.m.