SPARTANBURG — On a cold, rainy Friday night, the Newberry Wolves played the Tusculum Pioneers evenly for the entire match, but a 75th minute Tusculum goal handed the Wolves a tough 1-0 defeat.
With the loss, Newberry falls to 1-8-0 overall and 0-5-0 in the South Atlantic Conference, while Tusculum is now 5-3-1 and 2-1-1 in the league.
Both teams battled cold, rainy conditions on the turf field at the Upward Star Center, which caused some interesting bounces and skids. Tusculum out-shot Newberry by a 6-0 count in the first half, with Newberry goalkeeper Brad Dixon making two routine saves.
Newberry responded with more attacking vigor in the second half, with Lucas Ferreira and Dillon Pelton each placing two shots on goal, but neither were able to find the back of the net.
On a scramble in front of the goal, Tusculum’s Pablo Laguna poked a ball in at the near post in the 75th minute to provide the Pioneers with the winning edge. Dixon made three saves in the contest.
The Wolves are on the road for their next three contests, starting with a Wednesday conference match at Anderson.