Bridgewater, VA – After a hard fought first half, the Bridgewater College men’s soccer team gave up three unanswered goals in the second half. The Eagles fell 3-0 to the Marlins of Virginia Wesleyan University in Tuesday’s regular season finale. With the win, the Marlins moved to 7-10 overall and 4-4 in the ODAC. The Eagles fell to 5-11-1 overall, and 3-5 in conference play. 

The Marlins controlled possession of the ball throughout the game, taking 15 shots with seven of them on goal. Freshman goalkeeper Mark Collins, had four saves for the Eagles, while allowing three goals to score. The Eagles only managed to take seven shots, three of them on goal, all saved by Marlins sophomore goalkeeper Griffin Potter.

The first half was scoreless, but still competitive. Each team took five shots and had two saves. The Marlins had three corner kicks to Bridgewater’s zero. The Eagles were plagued by seven fouls, while Virginia Wesleyan only had two.

Once the second half began, the Marlins took over. Less than three minutes into the half, Virginia Wesleyan took a 1-0 lead off a goal from sophomore forward Scott Signorelli. The goal was assisted by senior midfielder Shawn Brooks. 

Nine minutes later, the Marlins scored again off a penalty kick from freshman forward Michael Nocera. With a little under 20 minutes left, the Eagles had a chance to make it a one score game, but senior forward Leo Alcantara missed a penalty kick. 

With 14:41 left on the clock, freshman midfielder James Yeboah took a shot on goal, but Potter’s save stopped the Eagles from getting on the board. 

With 13:38 left in the game, senior defender Devin Wallace scored to stretch the Marlin lead to 3-0, which is how the game would end. A yellow card was given to VWU sophomore midfielder Kaleb Russ, with 1:13 left in the game.

The Marlins took ten shots in the second half, compared to two from the Eagles. Potter had one save, while Collins made two. Collins also gave up all three goals. Both teams had six fouls for the half.

With the win (and a loss by Randolph), the Marlins clinched the number seven spot and a bye in the first round of the ODAC playoffs. Despite the loss, the Eagles still clinched the last spot in the ODAC playoffs, thanks to a 3-0 loss by Shenandoah University. The Eagles will be back in action on Friday night at 7 p.m. when they travel to the number eight seed, Randolph, in a play-in game.