LEXINGTON, Va. – First-year midfielder
Aaron Gonzalez Sobrino (Pozuelo de Alarcón, Spain / Williston Northampton School (Mass.)) scored in the 35th minute to lift the No. 3 Washington and Lee men's soccer team to a 1-0 win over Sewanee at home on Saturday.
With the game still scoreless through over 34 minutes of play, the Generals (3-1) began an attack at midfield when senior midfielder
Carson Cooley (Frederick, Md. / Urbana) sent a pass from the center of the field up the right side to senior midfielder
John Peterson (Towson, Md. / Loyola Blakefield). Peterson then tapped back to the center of the field, where Gonzalez Sobrino played a one-touch right back to Peterson making a run up the right side.
Peterson tried to cross, but the pass was deflected away by the Sewanee (2-1) defense. With the ball not possessed by either side inside the 18, Gonzalez Sobrino gathered the ball, took one touch in and fired a left-footed shot between the legs of a defender and past the diving keeper inside the left post for the score.
Gonzalez Sobrino nearly doubled the W&L lead in the 85th minute when he received a pass at the 18 from sophomore midfielder
Asa Tuke (Millerton, N.Y. / The Hotchkiss School). Gonzalez Sobrino flicked the ball up field to split a pair of Sewanee defenders but, as the Tigers' keeper came out of the goal, Gonzalez Sobrino pushed his attempt wide-left of the goal.
With three shots each in the game, Gonzalez Sobrino, along with senior midfielder
Samuel Bass (Charlotte, N.C. / Myers Park) and first-year midfielder
Matteo Adler (Cobham, England / ACS Cobham International) led the W&L offense to 22 attempts on the day. The Generals' offense saw 11 different shot-takers, with eight of those players attempting multiple shots for a balanced attack.
In goal, first-year
Will Joseph (Wilmette, Ill. / New Trier) (3-0) was not required to make a save to post the clean sheet, as the Tigers' mustered just two off-target shots across the 90 minutes. Joseph made multiple plays outside the goal box, however, clearing several up-field passes from danger.
Sewanee sophomore forward Tyler Cozzie and senior forward Grant Shepherd tallied the two shots on the day for the Tigers' offense. Senior goalkeeper JP Furman (2-1) played all 90 minutes in goal and made six saves.
The half-by-half split of W&L's 22 shots came by 12 in the first half and 10 in the second, while the Tigers took one shot in each period. The Blue and White earned six corner kicks and conceded four, including a 4-1 edge in the first half.
The Generals will be back in action on Friday when they host Oglethorpe at 4:00 pm.
