The Pioneers traveled to Canton, Missouri on Saturday for a match against Culver-Stockton College and came away with a 3-1 win to move to 3-0-1 in conference play.
Lucas Machado got the Pioneers on the board in the 13th minute. After a corner kick was originally cleared out by the Wildcats goalkeeper,
Jeremie Koffi played the ball back into the area.
Alvaro Beltran rose the highest to head the ball back across the box, and Machado was there to volley the ball into the back of the net. In the 30th minute, MNU extended the lead. After a nice sequence of possession,
Niklas Larsson slid a nice pass in behind the CSC defenders where
Cameron Wallace was making a run. He was able to redirect the ball past the goalkeeper for MNU's second goal. The half ended with MNU enjoying an 11-2 advantage in shots.
The Pioneers were quick to take control of the second half. In just under three minutes,
Eddie Morales took a pass from
Jelani Jillo into space and finished nicely. CSC reacted well to being down 3-0. They upped the intensity of the game and just four minutes later they scored a goal of their own. Tyler Paeth attacked a corner kick served into the six and headed the ball into the net from close range. It was a good response from the Wildcats and the remainder of the game was a tense affair.
Yann Passet was called on to make two saves and the Pioneer defense did well to preserve the 3-1 lead.
For the game, MNU outshot CSC 15-8, with shots on goal being 7-4. Richard Balek was credited with 4 saves for the Wildcats. Passet had 3 saves in the game. Culver-Stockton falls to 8-6 (1-3) on the season.
#2Â MNU is 10-1-1 (3-0-1 HAAC). The next match is MNU Homecoming and a showdown with HAAC-leading Missouri Valley College (9-3, 4-0) at 3:00.
