JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville University men's soccer team hosted Marist College this evening at Southern Oak Stadium in their first game of the regular season: the Dolphins (1-0) triumphed over Marist in a 2-1 victory.
Tonight's matchup was a physical up and down the field battle. The midfield duo of juniors Connor Lufkin and
Steven Saunders stood out tonight. "They were silent winners," commented Head Coach
Mauricio B. Ruiz. Lufkin recorded ninety minutes on the field tonight.
"Tonight was a team win. It wasn't pretty, and I give all the credit to Marist. Our guys were resilient, and it was a full team effort. We have to get cleaner in some aspects of the ball, tactically we were okay. Our fitness has continued to improve," Ruiz added.
The Red Foxes (0-1) were first to get on the board with a goal at 9:44 with the help of Samad Bouthong assisted by Allen Gavilanes. JU quickly answered back at 5:10 with a single-handed goal by Saunders and entered into half-time tied at one.
The Dolphins came back late in the second half to score the final goal of the night in the 80
th minute. Senior forward
Jesus Colombo, who is recognized as the
Hodges Mazda Player of the Game found the net with the help of Lufkin, who registered one assist for the night. "I couldn't be prouder of him," Ruiz went on to say.
The Dolphins were originally scheduled to host USC Upstate on Sunday, September 1 at 7 p.m. Due to the impending weather expected to arrive this weekend from Hurricane Dorian, the game has been postponed to Monday, September 2 and will now be hosted by USC Upstate in Spartanburg, SC.
"It's going to require a lot of numbers and a lot of bodies so right now we need to recover. Recovery is the main point right now," Ruiz concluded.
