The Pioneer Men's Soccer team travelled to Atchison Tuesday evening to take on conference rival Benedictine College. Following up on victories by the MNU Women's Soccer and Volleyball teams earlier in the evening, the men were eager to make it a clean sweep.
The game got off to a frantic pace. The Ravens' game plan was evident from the start. They were going to play for set pieces and limit MNU's possession in the final third. The plan worked to perfection early on. In the 17th minute, BC's Bryan Johnson scored from a corner kick. Just four minutes later, Piotr Wojenski scored a fantastic goal from a corner kick and Benedictine was up 2-0. The MNU response to being down two goals showed this teams' poise and experience. Just three minutes later they cut the BC lead in half.
Eduardo Heringer played a ball to
Bryce McClanahan and he finished into the upper corner. MNU continued to control possession and each team created some chances but no more goals came before the halftime break.
The second half was all MNU. They did a better job of defending the Raven set pieces and their extended possession began to break BC down. In the 57th minute,
Eddie Morales tied the game when he took a set piece pass from Heringer and finished from close range. The chances kept coming and you could sense another goal was coming. In the 75th minute that goal did come and the comeback was complete.
Lucas Machado made a brilliant run into the area and slipped a pass to
Matias Cabello. He got just enough on the shot to slip it past the BC goalkeeper. The Ravens pressed for the equalizer in the last 15 minutes but the MNU defense stood tall.
For the game, MNU and BC each had 13 shots, with SOG being 8-6 in MNU's favor. BC's goalkeeper was credited with five saves.
Yann Passet and
Juan Pablo Riesco combined for 3 saves. Benedictine falls to 6-5-1 (1-4-1). MNU is now 10-3-1 (5-1) on the year. Next up is a homecoming match against Culver-Stockton (6-7-1, 2-3-1). The game will be played at the
Olathe District Athletic Center at 3:30.
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