The Covenant men's soccer team said farewell to four seniors before Wednesday night's home regular season finale against Piedmont. Once the action began on the pitch, the Scots made sure it was not the last home match of the season.
Garrison Dale, Snoopy Davidson and Michael Arango all had goals to lead Covenant to a 3-0 victory over Piedmont at Scotland Yard. The win clinched a home match in the first round of the USA South tournament on Saturday.
Covenant (11-5-3, 5-3-1 USA South) will host Averett on Saturday at a time yet to be officially determined. The Scots earned the fourth-seed after the victory and a Ferrum loss at Methodist earlier in the day.
Dale, Matt Hudnut, Barrett Schmidt and Shuler Polk were all recognized before the contest for their efforts both on and off the field as members of the Scots soccer team. Combined, the group had a GPA of 3.35 while accumulating 43 wins, and counting, on the field.
Dale got the scoring going in the 34th minute of play. After Davidson was taken down inside the 18-yard box by Piedmont keeper Kenneth Hearn, who was yellow carded on the play, Dale converted his third penalty kick of the year and fifth goal overall to put the Scots ahead 1-0.
Though Covenant dominated the first half, outshooting the Lions 16-2, the Scots held on to a slim 1-0 lead at the half.
The score stood at 1-0 until the 77th minute when Davidson found the back of the net, assisted by Hudson Brock. Brock controlled the ball on the left side of the bax before crossing it quickly to Davidson who knocked it in for his sixth goal of the season.
Arango would add the final tally in the waning seconds of the second half as he took a throw-in from Danny Knight and headed the ball in. It was Arango's fourth score of the year.
Overall, Covenant had a 32-4 edge in shots and 16-2 in shots on goal. Hearn made 12 saves while Polk tallied two for Covenant. Davidson took 12 shots to lead the Scots while Hudnut added seven.
Check back here frequently for more updates on the time of Saturday's USA South tournament match.