JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Aug. 30, 2026) - The first day of September landed with a thud for the ETSU men's soccer team.
The nine-man Buccaneers (1-2-0) fell 3-0 to USC Upstate at Summers-Taylor Stadium on Tuesday night after conceding early and having a pair of players ejected in the second half. It marks their second consecutive loss to the Spartans (2-2-0).
The visitors got on the board in the seventh minute when Josh Zawlocki got the outside angle on his defender and forced Noé Delmotte off his line to cut down the angle for a shot. Zawlocki got past Delmotte and fired a bouncing shot through two defenders for his second goal of 2026.
Down 1-0 at the break, ETSU made several changes to start the second half, but one of them proved costly when Frank Manrod was ejected on a straight red card 80 seconds after the second half kickoff. Playing with 10 men, the Bucs kept the game even, but suffered another blow in the 71st minute when captain Hugo Martinez hauled down a Spartans forward on what the referee deemed a clear goal-scoring opportunity and was ejected on the team's second red card.
Playing with nine men proved overwhelming. Christian Cook got free at the top of the box and scored on a scorching right-footed shot inside the left post in the 78th, and Bennett Leitner added a second when Ola Haugsrud received a long cross on the back post and steered it back across the mouth of the goal, where Leitner was waiting for a tap-in on an open net.
The Bucs were outshot 15-6 in their home opener, with the Spartans outshooting them 9-0 in shots on goal. Jaime Carrillo and Joe Gonzalez led the team with two shots each. Delmotte made six saves. The game was extremely testy in matters of both physical and mental conflict, with eight yellow cards issued in addition to the two reds.
The Bucs are at home Saturday for a 1:00pm kick against Longwood. Admission for all ETSU men's soccer matches is free.
For more information on ETSU men's soccer, go to ETSUBucs.com.
