Senior Charlie Scruton scored twice within the final six minutes of regulation to lead the Emory University men's soccer team to a wild come-from-behind victory over the University of Chicago in the University Athletic Association opener Saturday afternoon at the Woodruff PE Center in Atlanta, GA.
Trailing 1-0 within the closing minutes, Scruton came up clutch with his two tallies to power the Eagles to their fourth straight victory. Scruton found the equalizer with just over six minutes remaining, tapping in a Nate Sampson cross from just outside the six. Then, with exactly one minute showing on the scoreboard, Scruton again came through with a great touch, tapping in an Alex Mills' centering pass to give the Eagles the lead for good.
Emory, winners of four in a row, sit now 5-1-2 overall and 1-0-0 in the UAA. The Maroons have dropped three of the last four, with all three losses coming within the final minutes of the contests, to slip to 6-3-1 and 0-1-0 in UAA play.
For the first two-thirds of Saturday's match, the game lived up to the defensive billing with neither side mustering up much offensively.
Chicago finally broke the scoreless draught in the 63rd minute as Ryan Yetishefsky beat keeper Jack Hudson from close range following a long range through ball from Ben Brandt.
The Maroons limited the Eagles to just two shots, neither on goal, through the first 79 minutes of action. Emory, however, began applying heavy offensive pressure within the final 11 minutes, cashing in twice with Scruton's markers.
The Eagles are back home Monday night with a non-conference match against Sewanee before returning to UAA competition next Sunday, October 10th, at Washington-St. Louis.