Firebirds Earn 2-1 Win Over Roberts Wesleyan

WASHINGTON, DC – The University of the District of Columbia men's soccer team earned a 2-1 victory Wednesday afternoon over Roberts Wesleyan in its first game in nearly three weeks.

The Firebirds surpassed last year's season win total as they improved to 7-4 overall and 2-3 in the East Coast Conference. This was their first game since October 5^th, as the prolonged federal government shutdown resulted in the cancellation of two non-conference games and rescheduling of two ECC games. Roberts Wesleyan fell to 2-10-2 overall and 1-6-1 in league play.

UDC struck early when freshman forward Felix Angerer (Business Administration – Bayreuth, Germany/Graj Minster Gymnasium Bayreuth) followed junior defender Atunde Akum's (Biology – Beltsville, MD/High Point HS) shot for the game's opening goal in the 5^th minute of play. The goal was Angerer's 5^th of the season and came on just the second shot of the game.

Nearly 30 minutes later, senior defender Bakary Coulibaly (Electrical Engineering – Bamako, Mali/La Lumiere HS) came off the bench and immediately provided a spark, scoring his team-leading 6^th goal of the season within a minute of entering the game. Freshman Sam Rowden (Psychology – Lincoln, England/Saint Peter Saint Paul Catholic Secondary) was credited with the assist, and the Firebirds took a 2-0 lead into halftime.

District of Columbia had a 19-14 shot advantage for the game, including an 11-3 edge in the first half, but the Redhawks applied most of the pressure in the 2^nd half, out-shooting their hosts 11-8 in the closing period. Roberts Wesleyan had several quality scoring chances throughout the second half but did not score until just before the 80-minute mark and could not find an equalizer in the final 10 minutes of regulation.

Sophomore goalkeeper Louis Connor earned his 7^th victory of the season by making three saves and allowing just one goal. RWC's Florian Witte made five stops but allowed two goals in a losing effort.

UDC will get on the road tonight for a rescheduled game at Queens tomorrow at 2:30 p.m.