HARDEEVILLE, S.C. – The SCAD men's soccer team extended its unbeaten conference record to 5–0 with a thrilling 4–2 comeback victory over Ave Maria on Wednesday afternoon. Despite trailing twice in the opening half, the Bees produced a dominant second-half surge fueled by Mario Goic's two penalty goals, Tim Rothe's stunning strike directly from a corner kick, and a late insurance finish from Sebastian Gomez.
Ave Maria opened the scoring in the 19th minute when Nikolas Briceno found the net, capitalizing on a counterattack to give the visitors an early 1–0 lead. The Bees, however, were quick to respond. Just five minutes later, Rothe stepped up to take a corner kick and delivered a perfectly bent ball that curled inside the near post, leaving the goalkeeper rooted as SCAD equalized in spectacular fashion.
The Gyrenes briefly regained the lead in the 41st minute through Sava Cadjenovic, sending SCAD into halftime trailing 2–1 despite having controlled much of the possession and attacking flow.
After the break, the Bees completely took over. The attacking trio of Goic, Gomez, and Leon Grube constantly pressured the Ave Maria back line, and the breakthrough came in the 61st minute when Goic calmly converted from the penalty spot to bring the score level at 2–2. SCAD continued to press, and another foul inside the box in the 77th minute gave Goic his second opportunity from the spot. The senior forward again made no mistake, slotting home to give SCAD its first lead of the match.
As Ave Maria pushed numbers forward late in search of an equalizer, SCAD put the result beyond doubt in the final minute of regulation. Gomez capitalized in the box, firing home to seal the 4–2 victory and send the home crowd into celebration.
The Bees were relentless in attack, outshooting Ave Maria 30–6 and holding a 12–1 advantage in corner kicks. Defenders Rothe, Kimi Husler, Daire Russell, German Moreno, and Paul Brophy anchored a back line that limited Ave Maria to just three shots on goal in the second half, while Noa Sonntag made two key saves to secure the win.
With the result, SCAD improves to 6–4–3 overall and remains a perfect 5–0–0 in conference play, while Ave Maria falls to 6–7–2 (1–4–0). The Bees will look to keep their momentum rolling when they return to conference action this weekend.
