MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Faulkner scored early and often in a 7-1 romp over crosstown foe Huntingdon Thursday night in the shortest road trip of the season at the Samford Soccer Complex on Huntingdon's campus as seven Eagles found the back of the net.
It took all of 54 seconds for Faulkner to notch ahead when the wingbacks connected as
Leo Freire dribbled into space and rolled a pass to a wide open
Gabriel Rokbrand who made no mistake with the finish.
Seven minutes later, Freire worked up the right wing and dribbled past a couple of defenders before burying the shot and doubling the lead.
In the 23rd minute, Caio Pereria floated a through ball into
Gabriel Dias who scored on a half volley to make it 3-0. Huntingdon would draw one back in the 33rd, but that was it for the Hawks chances as the Eagles limited the hosts to just three shots in the match.
Similar to the first half, the second half started quickly as
Ilan Tabet found his first goal of the season on Freire's second assist of the evening to make it 4-1 in the 47th minute. After a relatively quiet stretch,
Antoine Marques rebounded a
Thomas Buijs shot and scored his second of the season, increasing his record of career goals scored to 22 goals–four more than second.
Just about 80 second later,
Matteo Manzoni slotted a beautiful through ball in for Pedro Aragão who converted the one-on-one with the keeper to make it 6-1.
Julio Sousa took on essentially the entire Huntingdon defense and won with a brilliant technical dribble to sleep six Hawks and tucked the ball into the back of the net in the 85th minute for his team-best third goal of the season in just 88 minutes of play.
Faulkner dominated the flow of play and kept the hosts under siege with 39 shots and put 26 on frame with just five shots missing without defensive interference. The 39 shots is the most in a match since August 27, 2009 when Faulkner shot 44 times in a 13-0 win over Tennessee Temple and 26 is the most shots on goal in a single match in program history.
Faulkner's 13 goals scored in the first three matches this season is the most since 2009 when the aforementioned 13-0 win fueled a 19 goal tally in the same number of matches. Nine different Eagles have scored already this season which matches last season's total number of goal scorers
The two goals allowed is the fewest since allowing just one in the first three matches of the 2019 season.
The Eagles welcome former SSAC foe Florida College to Billy D. Hilyer Stadium Saturday at 10 a.m. and will seek the program's first ever win against the Falcons.
