Rocky Mount, N.C. - Sophomore Sambe Cande assisted on the first goal of the match and later tallied the eventual gamewinner to help his North Carolina Wesleyan men's soccer team secure a 3-1 win over Averett University on Friday at Scalf Field. The match was the USA South opener for both squads.

Cande helped the Bishops take a quick 1-0 lead in the 19th minute when he delivered a perfect cross that was headed home by junior Matt Moore. Averett (1-4, 0-1 USAS) countered in the 23rd minute with an unassisted score by Nathan Brown off a defender misplay, but Cande would give Wesleyan the lead for good with an unassisted score of his own less than two minutes later, blasting a 20-yard shot past AU keeper Martin Erenstedt.

Drew Wiltse added an insurance goal at the 69:12 mark off a tremendous throw-in by fellow sophomore Xavier Mensah. The 3-1 advantage was more than enough for freshman keeper Jesper Olsson, who made a trio of stops on nine Cougar shots en route to his fifth win between the posts.

For the Cougars, Erenstedt recorded seven saves on 18 shots.

Now 5-2-1 on the season, the Battling Bishops will travel to non-conference rival Virginia Wesleyan College on Tuesday. The match is slated for a 7:00pm start in Virginia Beach.