Sept. 10, 2010
Box Score
CONWAY, S.C. - Freshman midfielder Pedro Ribeiro scored two goals and Coastal Carolina picked up its first win of the season with a 3-0 shutout of Howard Friday night from the Coastal Carolina Soccer Field on the first day of the CCU/Adidas Invitational.
Ribeiro failed to disappoint in his home debut with the Chants by putting Coastal ahead 1-0 with his first career goal at the 35:34 mark of the first half. Ribeiro controlled the ball inside the Bison box following a pass at his feet from Kristoffer Sandtroen. Ribeiro shielded off his defender and turned towards the goal and fired a shot past Howard keeper Larry Turner.
"We're still trying to get Pedro and Rodrigo adjusted to the American style of soccer," head coach Shaun Docking said. "It's a big different than what they are used to back home in Brazil. We're just trying to bring them along slowly and gradually because I'm hoping by the end of the year they will have figured out how to press a little bit better. I saw some pretty good signs tonight from the two of them and I think it's becoming to come along nicely."
Coastal (1-2-0) struck again just 23 seconds later when sophomore midfielder Luis Faz notched his first career goal with a strike from the right side. Freshman Edric Martinez collected an assist on the play with a perfect through ball that spilt the Howard defense. Faz gave the Chants a 2-0 edge with a blast in stride into the top corner of the Bison goal.
Ribeiro struck for his second goal of the evening midway through the second half with a shot in the box that beat Turner to the near post. Leo Mukofsky picked up the assist on the play for his first career helper.
"I was very pleased with the guys up front tonight because I thought they had a lot of good energy," Docking said. "We created some good chances tonight and I was very pleased with that. This was a very big turnaround from last weekend, and I think we had a really good attitude and focus tonight and hopefully we can carry that into Sunday's game.
Coastal keeper Scott Angevine tallied two saves and posted his fifth career shutout. Freshman Danny Merriman logged the final six minutes of the contest in goal for his first action as a Chanticleer.
The Chanticleers improve to 22-7-2 all-time in home openers and boast a .740 winning percentage at the Coastal Carolina Soccer Field since Docking took over in 1998.
Coastal returns to action Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. when the Chanticleers welcome Southern Conference foe Wofford to the Coastal Carolina Soccer Field. Earlier in the day, Wofford and VCU played to a scoreless draw in the first game of the invitational.
