WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.- In front of a large crowd at the Rinker Athletic Campus, the #3 ranked Palm Beach Atlantic men's soccer team took down the defending SSC and national champion, #6 Lynn Fighting Knights on Wednesday evening by a final score of 2-0. Joshua Wicks and Marko Borovic found the back of the net in the ranked matchup.
The game started off even with both teams feeling each other out and trading possession without many scoring opportunities for either side. PBA lost two key starters, Fabio Reck and Rufus Roth in the first half. However, Eli Ghebreab and Mattia Bui came off the bench and stepped up in a highly pressured situation, and both played well. The best chance for the Knights came from a free kick in a dangerous position. PBA wall proved intimidating, and the ensuing shot cleared over the crossbar. Tin Vastic created a scoring chance with a shot on goal but Luca Clavero, the Lynn keeper kept the game even with a good save.
Into the second half, the Sailfish turned things around and created more scoring opportunities with more possession. Just nine minutes into the second half, Joshua Wicks opened the scoring after an excellent pass from Niklas Mahler into the box. The right footed strike got past Clavero and into the back of the net to give the Sailfish the first lead of the night.
Seven minutes later, a turnover from Bui fell perfectly to Lynn's top goal scorer Dominik N'gatie. The Knights' striker tried placing a shot with his left foot past Flavio Giannini but the Italian keeper was up to the task and made his biggest save of the night to keep the Sailfish in front. PBA held on to the 1-0 lead until the 80th minute of play when Marko Borovic undressed a Knight defender with two great moves and launched a left-footed strike into the back of the net for the all-important insurance goal and the Sailfish found themselves up 2-0 in the ranked matchup.
The Sailfish did not allow another shot on goal from Lynn as they closed out the 10 minutes of the match. Marian Rutkowski created the best chance for either side in the final moments with a shot that rang off the left post. The PBA defense did a good job of clearing any crosses over the final moments and held on for the 2-0 win.
The Sailfish have a bye this Saturday and return to action next Wednesday night when they head to Nova Southeastern to face the Sharks at 7 p.m. in Ft. Lauderdale.
