Fuqua Ties Southampton At Home

Published 4:30 pm Tuesday, April 16, 2013

FARMVILLE – Down by two goals at halftime, the Fuqua School soccer team rallied to take a second half lead before settling for a 4-4 tie with Southampton Academy on Monday afternoon at the Fuqua School Soccer Field.

The Falcons (3-2-2, 2-2-1 Virginia Commonwealth Conference), who led 1-0 following a goal by freshman Thomas Watson, quickly found themselves on the short end of a 3-1 deficit.

Southampton scored twice on perfectly placed throw-ins, and a third time on a own-goal, before the Falcons adjusted to a more aggressive, albeit more risky, attack by using four forwards.

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“I placed a lot of trust in our defenders, but we needed to get back into the game quickly,” said FS head coach Alex Sprin. “I can't say that I'm happy with a tie, given how that tie came about, but I am very happy with how our team responded and played the second half.”

Fuqua wasted little time getting back into the match. Senior David denBesten scored on a free kick about five minutes into the second half, and freshman Jonathon Kelly put the Falcons ahead with two goals. Kelly's second was a header off a free kick by denBesten.

Southampton tied the contest at 4-4 with about five minutes to play in regulation, and neither team was able to score in the two five-minute overtime periods.

“Lost it at the very end, that's the disappointing part,” said Sprin. “But the team we played is undefeated with two ties. We conceded a goal, and were in quicksand. It would've been great to walk away with a win, but we put ourselves in a position in the first half that we needed to play a perfect second half to come away with a win.”

Fuqua was scheduled to travel to Kenston Forest on Wednesday for a 4:30 p.m. contest.

It will be the first meeting of the year between the Falcons and Kavaliers.

Fuqua defeated RCS 4-2 in March for the Falcons' first VCC win of the season.

Following a match at Brunswick Academy on Wednesday, April 24, the Falcons will host Isle of Wight Academy at 4 p.m. on Thursday, April 25.