GREENWOOD, SC (September 7, 2025) - Men's soccer wrapped up their South Carolina road trip with a 1-1 draw against host Lander on Sunday afternoon. The tie moves Rollins to 1-0-1 on the season, while the Bearcats sit at 0-0-2.
The aggressive tone of play was set early when Lander's Sam Crolla was issued a yellow card in the first minute of the match. The next fifteen minutes saw a variety of fouls, offsides, and plenty of contact.
The scoreboard got its first action in the 20th minute when Lander was awarded a corner kick. Christian Hatley delivered a perfect strike into the box that was headed beautifully by Giacomo Saroti into the far corner to put the Bearcats up one.
Fast forward to the 65th minute. After a long pass from Lander, Tars keeper
Kilian Vallant was caught out of position, leaving the goal open for Sartori. He fired on the cage, but
Hayden Judge came out of nowhere to slide in the way and stop the ball from going in.
Minutes later, Rollins finally found their footing.
Pablo Herrero and
Justin Nelson played a successful game of give and go, featuring a beautiful chip over two defenders that have Herrero an open path to the goal. From the left side, his strike flew past Keanu Ridgill, tying the game.
Lander nearly reclaimed the lead late in the game, but a shot from Mika Lankhof struck the crossbar and bounced away from the cage. A few seconds later, Vallant was able to stop the next strike from the Bearcats as well, solidifying the tie.
Lander outshot Rollins 19-6 in this one, including six to two on shots on goal. Vallant played well in goal, stopping five shots.
Next up for the Tars is their home opener on Friday, September 12 when they host the West Florida Argonauts. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:00 pm.
