J.J. Donnelly had the lone goal of the game in CU’s win.
(Campbell photo/Bennett Scarborough)
BOILING SPRINGS — J.J. Donnelly scored the only goal of the match in the 60th minute and Campbell collected three valuable points in the Big South Conference men’s soccer standings after a 1-0 victory Saturday at Gardner-Webb.
Samuel Lechuga made three saves while earning his fourth shutout of the year and the Camels (6-7-1, 3-2-0 Big South) ended a three-match losing streak.
Campbell held Gardner-Webb (3-9-1, 3-3-0) without a shot for the first 28 minutes as the Bulldogs dropped their third straight contest.
The Camels appeared to take the lead in the 35th minute, but a goal off a corner kick was not allowed after the Camels were flagged for offside.
After a scoreless first half, in which the Camels outshot their hosts, 5-1, the visitors broke through when Donnelly scored his sixth golf of the season off Thibaut Jacquel’s rebound. In the 60th minute, Jacquel nearly scored on an overhead kick, but GWU keeper Daniel Husa made an initial save before Donnelly knocked in the loose ball.
Lechuga had to leave his feet for a save to force a corner kick in the 75th minute on Jack Hoey’s effort. The Camels cleared two ensuing corners and notched their fifth shutout of the season.
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After outshooting Gardner-Webb 13-9, including a 7-3 edge in shots on target, Campbell improved to 3-0 on the road in Big South play.
“Going on the road in the league and winning games is a tough task,” said Campbell coach Dustin Fonder. “We’ve done a good job of taking care of business on the road, but our biggest challenge now is coming back and putting a complete performance together at home.
“Our motivation and effort has been good during the losing streak; we were just a bit unlucky. Today what we lacked in quality we made up for in toughness.”
Campbell now stands 11-1-2 over the last two years (5-1-0 this season) in games when Donnelly scores. The preseason Big South co-attacking player of the year has produced 41 points on 19 goals and three assists in 33 career matches since joining the program from Eastern Florida State College. He is only nine points shy of moving into 31st place (50 points) on CU’s all-time scoring list.
The Camels improved to 11-4-2 all-time against Gardner-Webb, 5-2-1 since rejoining the Big South in 2011.
Campbell hosts Big South leader High Point on Wednesday (Oct. 24) in a 7 p.m. kickoff.
