Box Score CLEVELAND - The Delta State Statesmen soccer program clinched its first ever Gulf South Conference Tournament berth Friday afternoon with a 3-1 victory over West Alabama at Delta Field.
With the Statesmen's win, Delta State (7-7-1, 4-5-0 GSC) is assured a spot in the 4-team tournament set for November 2 and 4 in Pensacola, Fla. West Alabama (10-5-0, 6-3-0 GSC), along with West Florida and Christian Brothers have also qualified, but no seeds are set with three games remaining for each team.
Caue Da Silva set another record in the match, scoring the first two goals for the Statesmen. Da Silva's second goal, the eventual game winner, gave Da Silva four game-winning goals on the season, making the freshman the outright leader in the category.
Da Silva's first goal came in the 25th minute when he put home a rebound goal past West Alabama's keeper Jack Moore. The initial shot came from
Amine Rahmani, but the shot was blocked by a Tigers' defender.
Just over 10 minutes later, Da Silva scored again, this time off a set piece that started just outside the box. Statesmen captain
Steven Simmons played a quick and unexpected free kick to the side where Rahmani took possession. Rahmani crossed the ball in to an attacking Da Silva, who played the ball into the back of the net.
Mack Pytyck, who started his second straight game in goal for the Statesmen, came up with a huge save just minutes later. Pytyck came out of the net and took the ball off the feet of Tigers' striker Clay Green on a breakaway attempt before Green could get a shot off. The stop protected the lead and kept the Statesmen up 2-0 heading into the break.
In the second half, West Alabama picked up the tempo early and generated several scoring chances.Pytyck made a big save off a corner kick in the second minute of the second half.
West Alabama then put two shots high before having a quality shot blocked. The Tigers then missed just wide twice.The Tigers generated three corners in the first 10 minutes of the half.
After the game settled back, the Tigers finally broke through as John Imwalle scored three minutes after being subbed into the match. Imwalle beat Pytyck with a right-footed strike from 15 yards out on the right side of the box.
It was as close as the Tigers would get in the match as Delta State recovered quickly and regained a 2-goal lead just minutes later. The Statesmen again used a set piece for a goal.
Jack Pilley headed home a free kick from Simmons to give the Statesmen an insurance marker with just over 14 minutes remaining. For Pilley, the header was his first goal of the season and put an exclamation on the defender's day after a solid effort on the back line for Delta State.
The Statesmen pressed on for much of the remainder of the game, generating three more shots on goal and five corner kicks in the final 14 minutes.
The win avenges the Statesmen's tough 2-1 loss at West Alabama earlier this season, where the Statesmen hit three posts in a 2-1 loss. The Tigers scored late in the match to break the tie in Livingston.
With the win today, Pytyck moves to 2-0-0 on the season with two starts in five games played. The freshman keep holds a 1.46 goals against average in 246 minutes of action this year. In his two starts, Pytyck holds a 1.00 gaa with a goal given up in each game.
Da Silva's two goals move the São Sebastião do Caí, Brazil native's total to 14 on the season as well as having 29 points on the year. Both are Statesmen single season and freshman records, which he set last week. Da Silva leads the GSC in goals, goals per game, points and points per game. He is on pace to own every Statesmen single season offensive record at year's end, except penalty kick goals.
Delta State will return to action Sunday when they host West Florida for a noon kick off at Delta Field. The Statesmen fell to the Argos 4-2 at West Florida last month after going up 1-0 and 2-1 in the first half.
