The MNU Men's soccer team picked up their 1st win of the season with a 4-2 win over Vanguard University (CA). Having only returned 3 starters from last year's conference championship team the Pioneers have been looking for their 1st win to get things headed in the right direction. At the outset this game did not look to be that kick-starting game.
Just minutes into the 1st half the guys found themselves down 1-0 after a VU counterattack. MNU fought back to tie the game in the 26th minute with a set piece goal by
Oumar Seck. Things did not get better from here because with 10 minutes left in the first half, MNU picked up a straight red card and were forced to play a man down. Just 30 seconds after this, Vanguard capitilized to take a 2-1 into the half.
Down a man and down a goal things did not look good for MNU. "I challenged them at half time to step up and play with passion and not let the situation dictate the outcome," said Coach Wardlaw. "The guys did just that." At the 52 minute mark
Oumar Seck scored his 2nd goal of the game off an assist from
Luis Padilla to tie the game at 2. And then at the 68 minute mark freshman
Trent Remmich scored the go-ahead goal off of an assist by
Steve Shaw. Just a short while later a Vanguard player received his second yellow card to even the players at 10 apiece. The Pioneers capped the win with a goal at the 79 minute mark.
Oumar Seck completed his hat trick with an assist by
Alec Lemmon.
"The guys did exactly what I challenged them to do," said Coach Wardlaw. "They showed great character today and hopefully they will carry this attitude into training this week and into our future games."
The team now stands at 1-4 on the season and will play Oklahoma Christian at Baker University on Friday, September 18th at 2:30pm.
