Box Score

Demorest, GA -- The Piedmont College men's soccer team fell in a wild 5-3 contest against visiting Averett University that saw two goals in the first four minutes of play with a third coming in just the ninth minute as well.  The fast paced match favored the Cougars who nearly doubled up PC in the shot count 29 to 15 though Piedmont held the edge on the scoreboard with just 19 minutes remaining in the contest before falling by two in front of the home fans at Walker Athletic Complex.

Averett jumped all over the Lions to start scoring less than two minutes into the matchup as Kevin Vigebo put away a scrambled cross in front of the Piedmont goal.  However, the Lions' Sidney Smith would bring the two squads back level only one minute and 33 seconds later with his second goal of the season tucking a breakaway past Cougar keeper Justin Duksis. 

Piedmont would then take the lead in the ninth minute when Justin Whitaker's free kick bent in the top right hand corner of goal for the 2-1 advantage.  The score remained unchanged until a Leslie Pappoe bicycle kick for Averett helped the Cougars once again draw level at 2-2 with ten minutes to play in the first half. 

With the two squads deadlocked through 45 minutes coming out for the second half, it was Piedmont who would tab the quick strike this time around as a Nick Weatherby corner connected with the outstretched toe of sophomore Stephen Sherfy whose sliding effort gave the Lions a 3-2 advantage in the 48th minute. 

PC held its 3-2 lead for 24 minutes before allowing Averett to tie things back up for the third time on the afternoon as Timi Heikkonen, who scored the lone goal against the Lions in the 2010 matchup between these two squads, netted another strike for his career against Piedmont in the 72nd minute.  Heikkonen's shot for just outside the 18 would get past Lions keeper BRIAN GAID as the Cougars brought the score to three all with less than 20 remaining.

With momentum now on the side of the visitors, Averett picked up another score five minutes later with Vigebo tabbing his second of the afternoon to give the Cougars a 4-3 lead.  A Richard Bjornander goal in the 86th minute would set the final margin for the day as Averett won 5-3 going away to move their record to an impressive 5-1-1 on the season.

With Averett holding the margin in total shots as well as shots on frame, the Cougars held a slim advantage in corners with six to Piedmont's five.  Averett goalkeeper Justin Duksis made six saves to get his first win in goal of the 2011 season while PC keeper Brian Gaid was forced to make 13 of his own despite falling to 2-4 as the team's starter on the year.

The Lions move to 2-4 on the season falling for the second straight time but will try to snap their current skid one week from today when they hit the road to take on Sewanee-University of the South.  That Sunday, September 25th is set for a 1:00 pm kickoff.