MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Goals poured in for the Eagles as they bagged the second most tallies in program history Saturday night with a 7-1 thumping of Pensacola Christian (0-6). The seven goals bested two different six goal performances, including a 6-1 win over PCC in 2018 and sits behind a 13-0 win against Tennessee Temple in 2009 for second-most goals in a game in program history.
Six different Faulkner players scored and five assisted in the first match Faulkner (1-5) played in 12 days. "We have capable players who do their jobs," Head Coach Gabriel de Queiroz said about the multitude of names on the score sheet. "We have guys in the starting 11 and even on the bench that can come in and do their jobs. Everybody trusts each other to deliver their work."
Aleksa Djorovic scored his first career goal as he pressured high, took the ball away from a Pensacola Christian center back and buried the one-on-one in the 12th.
Antoine Marques dribbled around the keeper after the Serbian midfielder delivered a slipped through ball onto the Frenchman for his third goal of the season nine minutes later.
Clint Peterson drew the visiting Eagles back in the 27th with a laser to the bottom-left corner off a free kick. It was the only shot on target for the night and one of three in the match.
Ilan Tabet scored his first collegiate goal just three minutes later as
Matheus Rodrigues earned his first assist on a through ball to Tabet who calmly rolled a right-footed finish on his first touch past the keeper.
Just three minutes before the break,
Guilherme Mondaini's free kick bounced to
Ross Harper on the far post who made no mistake about the first touch finish to score the fourth goal of the half, marking the most in a 45 minute span since almost six years ago to the day when the Eagles scored five in the second half against Dallas Christian with braces from
Kofi Forkuoh and Costa Whitehead.
After a handball in the box against the visitors, Mondaini stepped up and tucked away a penalty to bump the lead to 5-1 in the 56th minute. Rodrigues scored his first goal after becoming eligible earlier this week in the 57th off a drop pass from Marques on a one-two pass in the box.
A gorgeous backheel flick from Heming Solberg Anderson in the box found Tabet alone on the left side. The native of Cannes, France deposited the shot into the right side netting in the 72nd to finalize the scoreline.
Anthony Ruiz was sent off for the visitors after tripping Rodrigues on a break as the last defender in the 77th.
The match was the first time the players could really play together following the team entering quarantine after the Spring Hill match. "The things we went through the past couple of weeks with quarantine and dedication that they had the past 12 days training by themselves, using Zoom calls and technology to keep moving forward, it paid off," Queiroz said. "You can tell the mentality of these guys and what they want. We had a rough beginning of the season. It's a new year for us in the program. It's coming together but these guys are determined along with the staff in what we are trying to implement. It feels good to have a result with that score, but the numbers don't tell everything. It's about what happened on the field and it's pretty good."
Faulkner outshot Pensacola Christian 16-3 on the night, placing 12 shots on target. The win marked the first win for the team on the new playing surface.
The Eagles travel to Reinhardt (4-0) Wednesday night at 7:30 for their final non conference match.
