Juan Quarlei Gil brings the ball up the field during the Knights season opener on Saturday afternoon in Laurinburg. Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange LAURINBURG —The St. Andrews men’s soccer team kicked off their 2024 season with a win over Regent University on Saturday afternoon at home in Laurinburg. The Knights defeated the Royals 3-1 to start off the new season 1-0 while the Royals fall to 2-1 with the loss.
Regent got the game’s first goal about 17 minutes into the first half but never sustained much beyond that. The Royals managed just four shots on goal during the contest compared to nine for St. Andrews. Cristobal Romero made three saves in goal for the Knights.
St. Andrews managed to tie the game before halftime on a goal by Pedro Salomoa Aledra with just under seven minutes until the intermission. The Knights would grab the lead on a goal by Tomas Canale just over 15 minutes into the second half. They would further add to their lead later in the half thanks to one last goal by Lucas Perrotte and hold on from there en route to the 3-1 victory.
The team will hit the road next week for matchups on Wednesday at Carolina University and Saturday at Mt. Olive University. They won’t have another home game until Tuesday, Sept. 3 when they play host to Carolina Christian College.
St. Andrews women’s soccer falls short in season opener
The St. Andrews women’s soccer team also kicked off their season at home on Saturday afternoon. They unfortunately were defeated by Allen University, however. The Yellow Jackets defeated the Knights 4-2 to drop St. Andrews to 0-1 while Allen improved to 1-0 with the win.
The positive for the Knights in the defeat was the play of freshman Diane Maillis in her first ever collegiate game, who recorded both of St. Andrews’ goals. Anais Blanco and Kaitlyn Davies helped provide assists on the goals.
The Knights did hold a lead in this game as Maillis scored the first of her two goals just over 20 minutes into the first half. That advantage would be short lived as Allen responded less than eight minutes later to even the score. They would then grab the lead just 2.5 minutes after that and add onto their advantage with another goal before halftime to be up 3-1 at the break.
Both teams would score once each in the final 45 minutes of action the keep the margin the same and result in a 4-2 final. Jaydin Sanchez made six saves on 10 shots against in goal for St. Andrews. The Knights managed to record eight shots on goal against the Allen goalkeepers.
The Knights will once again be at home next weekend with a matchup against Brevard College on Saturday afternoon.
Volleyball starts season with weekend trip to Life University
The St. Andrews women’s volleyball team participated in the Life University Running Eagle Classic and competed against four teams over a two day span on Friday and Saturday. They took on Oakwood, Life, Warner and Spartanburg Methodist while finishing the weekend winless at 0-4.
The game against Oakwood had several close calls with all the sets being very close in a narrow 3-1 defeat. The scores of the sets were 25-23 Oakwood, 25-22 Oakwood, 25-20 St. Andrews and 25-21 Oakwood. They were swept in their other three matchups.
Sophomore Jade Alvarez came out of the weekend leading the team in kills with 34 total. Junior Maddison Larrimore currently is second on the team with 23 kills herself with junior Grace Farley contributing 17 kills of her own to rank third on the team.
The Knights will return home to hold their Blue vs Grey scrimmage on Thursday night at 6 p.m. and host two home games before having to travel again. Livingstone College will come to town on Saturday afternoon for a 2 p.m. matchup before Fayetteville State takes on the Knights in Laurinburg on Tuesday, Sept. 3 at 6 p.m.
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