MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Faulkner wrapped up the regular season in a dominant fashion as a frantic last 10 minutes led the Eagles to a 4-1 win over SSAC and Battle of I-85 foe Point Thursday night at Billy D. Hilyer Stadium.
Chances had fallen for the Eagles to equalize after a confusing play that led to a top notch finish for the Skyhawks to take the lead in the 73rd minute from Gihong Kang to put the Eagles chasing the equalizer and beyond with time running out. However for the Eagles, not much time was needed to blow the game open and devastate the Skyhawks.
In the 84th minute, things looked like it just was not Faulkner's night, but one moment changed everything. Pepe Riofrio passed down the left wing to
Leo Freire who dribbled into the box and crossed to the back post where
Julio Cesar slid in the tying goal. It was the 8th time this season that Freire either scored or assisted the first goal for Faulkner and the second straight goal for Cesar that leveled the match, this one 45 yards closer to goal than the strike he scored against now No. 1 Dalton State to draw the Roadrunners.
Three minutes later,
Caden Maldonado's cross was blocked out and fell back to Freire who controlled and fired the eventual game winning goal home in the 87th minute, the latest game winning goal for the Eagles in regulation since Guilherme Mondaini scored from Mateus Cesar's assist in the 86th minute against Webber International on Sept. 11, 2019 in the 1-0 home win.
Faulkner was not done there though as Riofrio found Maldonado who worked around a defender and slotted home the third goal just about 90 seconds later to put the game out of reach for the rivals. It was Maldonado's second goal of the season.
Just 41 seconds later,
Juan Rojas fired home his first goal of the season when
Eduardo de Albuquerque passed to Riofrio who tapped the ball back to Rojas who hit the top shelf of the goal for the finishing touches on the dramatic comeback win.
Riofrio had the first three assist performance of the season, tying a program record with Alexander Padoveze's mark in 2007 against Spring Hill and Pedro Aragão's total against Florida College last season. It is also the eighth time this season that Faulkner has scored multiple goals by all different goal scorers.
Faulkner presently sits in fourth but with a couple more matches to play around the league, Faulkner will have to scoreboard-watch and await the results of a couple other games before knowing who it will face in the quarterfinals of the SSAC Men's Soccer Championship sometime and in some location next week.
