Men’s Soccer Braves Rain and Sailfish for Win



BOCA RATON, Fla. – Mother Nature blanketed the McCusker Sports Complex with rain Saturday afternoon but the Lynn University men’s soccer team was able to prevail with a 2-1 victory over Palm Beach Atlantic. Dwight Barnett and Gabe Taboada scored within two minutes of each other in the second half as the 17th-ranked Fighting Knights improved to 11-1 overall.



“With the rough conditions, we didn’t play our best game,” said head coach Shaun Pendleton. “But good teams find ways to pull out victories and that’s what we did today.”



Lynn dominated the first half of play, holding Palm Beach Atlantic (6-3) without a shot and consistently maintaining possession in Sailfish territory. PBA keeper Joseph Yurchack kept his team tied going into the half when he made a diving save to his left off a shot from Jean Alexandre.



The weather held both teams at bay for most of the second period but later caused havoc for the Fighting Knights. In the 72nd minute, Johnathon Clark sent a cross from the left side through the penalty box. Tim Melia jumped off his line to make the stop only to have the wet ball deflect off his hands to the back post. Daniel Abrahamson shot on an open net to give the Sailfish a 1-0 lead.



Urgency crept up on Lynn and the Knights turned it on over the final 15 minutes of the contest. Kyle Conrad and Keishen Bean each had their chance to tie the game with one-on-one runs with the keeper only to see their shots turned away by Yurchak. Barnett finally tied the match up in the 81st minute after taking a long pass from Sam Craven, juking the keeper and scoring on the open net. He now leads the team with 10 goals and 25 points.



Two minutes later, in what appeared to be a harmless free kick at midfield turned out to be the game-winning play. Alexandre quickly set down the ball for the free kick and found a seam through the PBA defense. Taboada collected the pass just inside the box and bent his shot around Yurchak, just inside the right post for the goal.



Lynn out shot Palm Beach Atlantic 17-4 in the game and was whistled for 13 off-sides calls.



The Fighting Knights return to action Wednesday, October 10, at 3 pm when they host bitter rivals Barry University. Fans can follow the action live by logging on to www.lynn.edu/athletics and selecting the “live audio” and “live stats” links.