Hughes Scores Match Winner in 85th Minute as Berry Defeats Emmanuel 3-2

Josh Hughes' goal in the 85th minute lifted Berry College to a 3-2 victory over Emmanuel College Saturday at Ford Soccer Field on the Berry campus.

Hughes took a cross from Chris Capati, who made a run down the right side of the field before sending the ball into the box, and fired it past Emmanuel goalkeeper Anel Lilic to break up what was a 2-2 tie with the match winner with just over five minutes remaining in the match.

It was poetic that Capati would set up the match-winning goal, because he was the player that put the Vikings in the position to win the game when he headed in a long throw-in from Shane Maroney just 13 minutes earlier to tie the score 2-2.

All five goals in the match came in the second half, with Emmanuel jumping on the board first in the 56th minute.  That was when Jonathan Faile accepted a short pass from Alex Wright in the box and slid the ball underneath Berry goalkeeper Andrew Ryndak, who came on as a substitute for Kevin Madigan to start the second half. 

The Vikings' Dino Ceric would even the score in the 62nd minute, finding the net on assists from Reid Popple and Daniel Wartner.  But the teams would stay tied for only two minutes, because Faile again would score in the 64th minute, this time depositing the ball over Ryndak's head into the net. 

Berry held possession of the ball for most of the second half, and finished the match with a 17-8 shot advantage.  Ten of the Vikings' shots were on goal, compared to four for Emmanuel.

Berry improved to 3-1 overall with the victory.  Emmanuel dropped to 3-5 in 2010.

The Vikings are scheduled to return to action Sept. 24 at Shorter University in Rome.

- BerryVikings.com -