Firebirds Soar Past Lightning, 5-0; Improve to 2-0

Post-Game Interview - Bakary Coulibaly

WASHINGTON, DC – Senior forward Bakary Coulibaly netted his first two goals of the season to lead the University of the District of Columbia men's soccer team to a lopsided, 5-0 victory over non-conference foe Goldey-Beacom College on a warm, Sunday afternoon in the nation's capital.

The Firebirds improved to 2-0 and have outscored their two opponents, 9-1 thus far this season. They also improved to 10-0 all-time against the Lightning dating back to 1998. GBC, which competes in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference, fell to 0-2.

District of Columbia dominated Goldey-Beacom in shots (27-6) and corner kicks (13-4) as the Lightning put just one shot on goal all afternoon. UDC's sophomore goalkeeper Louis Connor (Health Education – Birmingham, England/Arthur Terry School) made the one save to earn a share of the shutout victory, with freshman Ever Guevera Alvarez finishing out the final 11:30. GBC's Carlos Meinhard made nine saves and allowed five goals in the loss.

Sophomoe Elio Hernandez put the Firebirds on the board first for the second straight game, finishing off some pretty passing his brother, senior Roque Hernandez (Environmental Science – Germantown, MD/Northwest HS) and freshman forward Felix Angerer (Business Administration – Bayreuth, Germany/Graj Minster Gymnasium) nearly 27 minutes into the action.

The Firebirds had a few more quality scoring chances in the first half but were unable to capitalize and settled for a 1-0 halftime lead.

A little over 13 minutes into the second frame, freshman forward Adam Spinks (Health Education – Birmingham, England/Fairfax HS) fired a shot from inside the box to put UDC up, 2-0. Roque Hernandez and freshman Nenad Smiljanic (Business Administration – Barnsley, England/Barnsley College) were both credited with assists.

Coulibaly (Electrical Engineering – Hyattsville, MD/La Lumiere HS) would then add two goals in a period of 2:26 to make it 4-0. First, he took a long punt from the keeper, Connor, and dribbled past two Lightning defenders and around a charging Meinhard for an empty net goal in the 70^th minute. A short time later, he headed in a corner kick from Elio Hernandez.

In the closing minutes, sophomore forward Moussa Traore (Psychology – Silver Spring, MD/John F. Kennedy HS) scored on a penalty kick for the game's final goal.

Next up, UDC will host California (PA) of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) on Wednesday, September 11^th at 3 p.m.