MONTGOMERY, Ala. ---- The Auburn University at Montgomery men's soccer team dropped a
3-0 exhibition contest against the University of West Florida on Thursday, continuing its preparation for Sunday's season opener against Davenport University.
The contest featured three 20-minute periods, with the Argos scoring twice in the opening 20 minutes and once in the final stanza. Andre Verardi scored all three goals for West Florida, which was recently voted the favorite to win the Gulf South Conference for the ninth consecutive season.
"I thought we possessed the ball well, but our urgency to go forward was lacking," head coach
Wulf Koch said. "We made a couple of individual mistakes and they capitalized on it. West Florida is a quality team and we can learn a lot by the way we played against them today."
In the match, each squad posted 10 shots, with senior
Stefan Arnarson and junior
Chris Ross leading the Senators with two apiece.
Junior
Steve Keller played all 60 minutes in goal for AUM, posting two saves in the contest.
In addition to the way his team handled the ball, Koch also took another positive from the match on Thursday.
"One of the major positives of today was from a conditioning standpoint," Koch added. "We were able to run for 60 minutes at the same time that we will be playing Sunday."
AUM will kickoff its 2010 regular season on Sunday, when it hosts Davenport at 3 p.m. Ticket prices for all home AUM soccer matches are $4 for adults and $2 for students.