Cavaliers fall to Eastern Florida State

ALBANY – Despite an early 2-0 lead, the Darton State College Cavaliers fell to Eastern Florida State College 4-3 at home, Friday, in a hardnosed battle that went down to the wire.

Cavalier forward Darwin Espinal bent a free kick around a wall of defenders to score in the opening minutes of the match. Twenty minutes later he broke away and scored again to give Darton a 2-0 lead. Then Eastern Flordia turned the tables.

In the last fifteen minutes of the first half, the Titans scored twice to tie it up before the half.

The match was deadlocked for thirty long minutes before the Titans scored again to take a 3-2 lead. Off of their following kickoff, Darton needed only 30 seconds to move into the Eastern Florida backfield and find midfielder Azimi Marwan, who blasted a well-placed shot into the lower corner of the Titan net to tie the game with 16 minutes remaining.

The Titans were able to score the game-winner by attacking along the right side and sending a cross into the Cavalier penalty area. A deflection sent the ball rolling outside of Darton’s 18, where a Titan midfielder sprinted in and slammed a shot into the upper left hand corner of Darton’s goal.

It was the Cav’s first regular season loss since 2011, and the first time Darton lost a regular season “home” game since 2010.

The No. 2 ranked Cavs play again Thursday as they host Middle Georgia in a GCAA conference matchup at 8 p.m.