MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Faulkner gritted out a come-from-behind 2-1 win Saturday night with two penalty conversions from Leo Freire and a stellar goalkeeping performance from André Ferreira against SSAC rival Thomas at Billy D. Hilyer Stadium.

Thomas got ahead early in the eighth minute as a set piece settled to Will Nye who's shot was saved but fell right back to Pablo Novoa who scored his first goal of the year to take the lead. 

Faulkner was unphased, getting several good opportunities in the first half to equalize, but were robbed on multiple occasions by Jorge Gonzalez, the Night Hawk keeper who ended the Eagles' season last year in penalties. 

However, the second half seemed be go fairly favorably for the Eagles as Julio Cesar drew a penalty in the 47th minute that Freire fired home to level the match, marking his ninth match with a goal contribution in the last 10 and third straight match with a goal scored.

Things got tricky for the Eagles in the 60th minute as a second yellow card put Faulkner down a man for the last 30 minutes in a tied match. However, a free kick from midfield was delivered brilliantly by Hiro Tsuda to Freire who was pulled down in the box for another penalty. Freire stepped up and hit the same spot again to make it 2-1. 

Faulkner staved off five more Thomas shot attempts with Ferreira saving two and forcing the miss on a third to hold on to just the second win against the Night Hawks in program history and the first since 2011. 

Ferreira collected nine saves in the win in his home debut. 

Faulkner will take on No. 3 Mobile Thursday night at 7:30 in the next-to-last SSAC home game.  Read Full Article