UPSL: Soda City wins 2-0 over Charlotte SA

Forrest Wimberly
6 days ago
2 min read

NATIONAL SOCCER NEWS: www.nationalsoccernetwork.com

Soda City wins 2-0 over Charlotte SA - Soda stays second in the table with win

A goal from Dan Wheeler in the first half and a goal from Felipe Azevedo in the second half is all Soda City needed to defeat Charlotte Soccer Academy last Sunday night in Irmo. The win keeps Soda City in second place in the UPSL Premier Mid-Atlantic South standings, just four points out of the top spot with two remaining regular season games on the schedule.

The first 30 minutes of the match saw the possession of Soda be answered with the long-service counter attacks of the visitors from North Carolina. Charlotte arrived late due to heavy traffic on I-77 and the much smaller squad of Charlotte (traveled with 13 players) put up a valiant effort to turn aside wave after wave of Soda attacks in this opening half hour.

Soda found their first goal off the foot of Dan Wheeler in the 37th minute who collected a ball just outside the box and then went on a solo run to draw the defense and keeper out of position before firing the ball low into the back post for the 1-0 lead.

With the score 1-0 at the half, Soda emerged from the break with more possession and more pressure and this paid off in the second Soda goal in the 53rd minute. A well worked combination up the right flank produced a low cross across the top of the goal box that Felipe Azevedo guided past the scrambling Charlotte keeper for the 2-0 advantage.

A flurry of substitutions and near misses completed the 90 minutes as Soda stayed undefeated on the regular season moving their record to 6W-0L-3T on 21 points.

Goalkeeper Vasili Diakomihalis went all 90 minutes in the nets for Soda earning the shutout win.

Soda is on the road in their final away match of the season on May 24 at the third-place SC Surf who sit just 3 points behind Soda in the table. The regular season finale will be a Columbia derby on May 31 as the first-place SCU Heat (4 points clear at the top of the table) visit Irmo HS in what could be the match that determines the UPSL Mid-Atlantic South regular season title.