Eagles Battle Another Top 25 Team and Stay Undefeated

Marietta, GA - The Eagles season is very early, but it is off to a good start.  The team was on the road in this midweek game versus #23 ranked Live University. Life is another early test for the Eagles similar to the #4 ranked Dalton State game, which was the season opener.

So far, the Eagles have managed to hold their own with these NAIA top-ranked teams with strong defensive play and quality goalkeeping.  Coach Frankie Ruiz was very proud of the way his defense played tonight keeping the Running Eagles off the board. He emphasized that Ivan Patta was a big reason for this achievement and said that he was definitely the player of the game.  Often the stats do not display what a defender does during the game, but the sophomore defender from Alghero, Italy had many defensive stops for the Eagles controlling the backline and helping out goalkeeper, Elijah Clark.

Clark was able to get 5 saves and recorded a clean sheet and improved his record to 3-0 as the keeper this season.  Life was able to get 19 shots on the Eagles, but only 5 of those were shots on goal.

Reinhardt did play a heavy defensive game and was only able to get 2 shots on goal.  This will be one stat that the team will have to improve as the season progresses, but with the great defense behind them - the attackers will soon be able to get their shots going. Zachary Smith and Maxime Correia were the two Eagles that had shots on goal in the game.

The Eagles will have another shot to improve upon this stat this Saturday evening when the team will be back on campus in Waleska to take on Cumberland University (TN).  Cumberland is another talented team that is receiving votes just outside the NAIA Top 25.

The game will be the only home game on this Labor Day weekend so come out and support Coach Frankie and his crew at 7 pm on Saturday.