BOONE, NC Hermann Award candidate Randi Patterson scored his 10th goal of the season and the 40th of his career as UNC Greensboro defeated Appalachian State, 2-0, in men's soccer action on Tuesday afternoon.
The Spartans (7-3-0, 2-0-0 SoCon) are now unbeaten in their last 10 SoCon regular season matches and 19 out of 20, with the lone blemish coming at Appalachian State two years ago.
Patterson, a junior from Hackensack, NJ, opened the scoring with an unassisted tally just 11:29 into the contest. He dribbled through the far side of the box and hit a blast into the net for his 10th tally of the season. He has scored at least one goal in eight of UNCG's 10 matches this year. He is the ninth player in school history to record 40 goals and the first to surpass the mark since Alejandro Moreno did it in 2000. Moreno, who now plays in the MLS, also passed the mark as a junior and finished with 65 goals in his career.
Mike Richardson added an insurance goal for the Spartans with just under 20 minutes to play. Egill Atlason put the ball in play off a free kick and Richardson knocked it home for his first tally of the season.
Jay Benfield recorded five saves to notch the shutout for UNCG. He has allowed just one goal in his last 168 minutes of action.
UNCG will host Davidson on Friday night at UNCG Soccer Stadium beginning at 7 pm.
AGATE
UNC Greensboro...... 1 1 - 2
Appalachian State... 0 0 - 0
SCORING SUMMARY: UNCG - Patterson (unassisted), 11:29; UNCG - Richardson (Atlason), 70:04. Shots: UNCG 14, Appalachian State 10. Saves: UNCG 6 (Benfield 5; TEAM 1), Appalachian State 6 (Dufty 6). Corner kicks: UNCG 7, Appalachian State 4. Fouls: UNCG 26, Appalachian State 15.
- UNCG -
