NEWBERRY, S.C.--Anderson Men's Soccer traveled to Newberry on Wednesday night for the regular season finale. With the league title on the line, a Trojan win was necessary, and a win is exactly what the Trojans produced. A dominant performance, Anderson closed out the season in style, recording their fourth four-goal game and fifth shutout of the 2025 campaign.
With the win, Anderson moves to 10-1-4 overall and 7-1-2 in South Atlantic Conference play, a league record that solidifies sole ownership of the regular season title. Combining for 23 points across ten SAC games, AU sits alone at the top of the leaderboard, followed by Emory & Henry with 21 points and Lincoln Memorial with 20.
From the opening whistle, Anderson pressed and created opportunities, tallying seven shots and earning six corner kicks in the first half. It was one of those corner kicks that the Trojans grabbed their first goal of the night, as a service from Julian Caro (Medellin, Colombia) found Joachim Koch (Styria, Austria) on the back post who tucked it away. The goal was Koch's second and Caro's fourth assist of the season. Anderson took a 1-0 advantage into the break.
Roughly 15 minutes into the second half, Adrian Castillo (Alboraya, Spain) doubled AU's lead when a mis-hit header from a Newberry defender found an attacking Castillo who sent it past the keeper. The goal is Castillo's third on the year.
With 15 minutes left to play, the Trojans subbed Leone Corzani (Forli, Italy) and Nico Ortiz (Simpsonville, S.C.) onto the pitch. Less than a minute later, the two connected to boost Anderson's lead to three. A ball up the right flank from Jace Hicks (Greenville, S.C.) found Corzani who sent it across the box to an unmarked Ortiz, who slipped it in.
Ortiz wasted no time making his offensive impact known, finding his second of the night in the 84th minute off a cross from Thiago Ibarrola (Spartanburg, S.C.). The brace marks his first two goals of his AU career. In a must-win game, Anderson put up their biggest win of the season, defeating the Wolves 4-0.
The No. 1-seeded Trojans will host the No. 8-seeded Mars Hill Lions on Saturday evening for the opening round of the SAC Championships. The game is scheduled for 7:30 PM.
