WILMINGTON, Del. (Oct. 24, 2023) - Georgian Court Men's Soccer will have to be content with just one point after they played Wilmington to a draw Tuesday afternoon. Both teams scored in the second half as GCU took the lead in the 58th minute. They carried that into the final 10 minutes, but Wilmington found the equalizer with eight minutes left. The draw puts them at 4-7-3 this season and 3-4-2 in the CACC.

How it Happened
• The final possession numbers make the match look more lopsided than it was. Wilmington had more time in the offensive zone but Georgian Court arguably had better opportunities.
• Wilmington led in shots 26-5 and shots on goal 8-2. The Georgian Court defense did a good job making sure most of those shots were from distance and far off target and the ones that were on goal Krissler was able to track well.
• The Wildcats played for a lot of corner kicks and took seven in the game, six in the first half, without surrendering any.
• Fouls started to increase as the game wore on. Wilmington was called for 14 and Georgian Court 10. All nine yellow cards issued were in the final 40 minutes. There were six on the Lions, three on the Wildcats. 
• Georgian Court was whistled for offsides 11 times as the Wildcat defense continually played high to draw that call.
• Krisser was tested early, making a save in the first two minutes following the Lions first offsides call of the game.
• One of the best chances of the match came from Mathias Madersbacher in the ninth minute. From inside the box, Madersbacher shot left with his right foot and beat the Wildcat goalkeeper, but the ball kissed off the post and stayed out.
• Wilmington peppered the net often in the first half and drew six of their seven corner kicks.
• They outshot GCU 12-3 and the game was scoreless after one half.
• Moving to the second half, the Wildcats again were putting balls towards the net. Three were blocked early by the Lion defense and Krissler came up with another save.
• In the 58th minute, GCU broke out following another blocked shot. Alessandro Cavallini carried the ball into the box where he sent a cross through the goal mouth. Although the Wildcats had a defender in good position, Joseph Ficarotta was still able to get a piece of the cross and flick it into the net for a 1-0 lead.
• Yellow cards started piling up. Four came in a 12 minute span and nine in the final 36 minutes. 
• In the 70th minute, Madersbacher had another chance, this time to put the Lions up 2-0. Gijs Van Eif sent a beautiful through ball to Madersbacher who was one-on-one with the keeper. He deeked left around the goalie who came out high, which sent him out wide and his touch back towards the net stayed outside the post as Wilmington avoided disaster.
• With eight minutes to play, Wilmington was awarded a free kick from about 20 yards out. Troy Paul's attempt was blocked by the Lions four-man wall, but the ball caromed to Max Norden who was able to control the rebound and fire past Krissler to tie the game.
• In the closing minute, Wilmington had Krissler beat and nearly stole a win. Yarek Canegie chipped one past Krisser with 40 seconds left, but as the ball was heading towards the net, Sebastian Derflinger was able to run it down and boot it out just before it crossed the line to preserve the 1-1 draw.

Lions Stat Leaders
• Joseph Ficarotta scored for GCU on his only shot.
• Alessandro Cavallini picked up an assist.
• Mathias Madersbacher led the Lions with three shots.
• Fabio Krissler made six saves.

For the Wildcats
• Max Norden scored with an assist from Troy Paul.
• Malthe Hannesbo took seven shots, three on goal.
• Charlie Phillips made just one save in goal.

News and Notes
• Joseph Ficarotta notched his 10th career point with his second goal of the season, matching a single-season best.
• Fabio Krissler made his 50th save of the season.
• Ryan Lee surpassed 2500 career minutes played.
• Woodley Cagilus got his first career start.
• Georgian Court has not allowed more than two goals in any of their last five games.

Up Next
• Georgian Court will stay on the road this weekend. They'll play at Bridgeport as part of a doubleheader Saturday, Oct. 28 at 3 p.m.