Men's Soccer at #5 William Carey | T 3-3 |
Stats
The MNU Men's Soccer team faced a tough challenge as they faced off against #5 ranked William Carey University in Hattiesburg, Mississippi on Saturday. WCU made the Final 4 of last year's NAIA National tournament, so going into the game the boys knew they were going to be in for a test. The game did not disappoint. After a start that saw WCU dominate possession, the Pioneers were the first to strike. In the 10th minute,
Trent Remmich took advantage of an error in the back and slotted home a far post finish to put MNU up 1-0. WCU then scored 2 goals in the 32nd & 33rd minute to take a 2-1 lead. In the 41st minute,
Eddie Morales came on to fire home his first of two goals on the night, to make it 2-2 going into halftime. "We did not play well the first half," said Coach Wardlaw. "It took us some time to get used to the turf and the narrow field. We gave up a very poor second goal but the boys did well to battle through the half."
MNU came out much stronger in the second half. Establishing their possession game they began to change the tide of the game. Unfortunately, much like MNU's first goal, WCU were able to score their third goal against the run of play. A beautiful combination sequence lead to a one on one with MNU keeper
Oran Tene. Tene was unable to stop the shot and WCU went up 3-2. At this point MNU really began to control the match and you could feel an equalizer coming. After several close calls, including a Remmich shot off of the post, Morales bagged the equalizer in the 85th minute. The Pioneers missed one more good opportunity and Tene made a great save on a WCU shot to see the game into extra time.
Not much happened in the extra frames. Neither team looked as if they had enough left in the tanks to push for a winner. The game ended in a 3-3 draw. For the game, MNU outshot WCU 12-11, included 6-3 in the second half. William Carey's keeper was credited with 2 saves. Tene was credited with 4 saves. WCU moves to 1-0-1 on the season. MNU is 2-0-1. The next game is Monday at #12 University of Mobile and 4:00.
