The Men's Soccer team lost 1-0 to Missouri Valley on Saturday. This was the conference opener for both teams. Valley came into tonight's match sporting a #8 national ranking. MNU was receiving votes in the latest poll.
The game lived up to it's billing as an incredible exhibition of college soccer. Both teams came out committed to playing an attractive, possession oriented, intense style of play. Valley had the better of the play in the first half as they created a few early chances and if not for a couple of solid saves by MNU goalkeeper Chris Eriksson, the Pionners could have found themselves down by a goal. As the boys settled into the game they began to create a few chances of their own. If not for a few close offsides calls, MNU might have been ahead in the game. As it was the breakthrough for the Vikings came with about 15 minutes left in the first half. A defensive clearance was collected in the midfield and in the attempt to win the ball the MNU player knocked the ball past Eriksson for the only goal of game. An unfortunate event but games like this are many times decided by the smallest errors.
The second half was back and forth with both teams only creating a few good chances each. Valley withstood heavy pressure from MNU in the final 15 minutes to make their one goal lead stand up. Even in the loss, Coach Wardlaw was pleased with his teams performance. "Our season so far has been marked by fluctuating performances. This was one of our best performances, especially in the second half. Missouri Valley is one of the best teams in the nation and we saw that tonight. My hope is that we can build off of this performance."
MNU falls to 7-4-1 on the season and 0-1 in conference. The next game is Saturday against Culver-Stockton at 2:30.
