Lindsborg, KS – The McPherson College men's soccer team, put together a full 90 minutes on both sides of the ball on Saturday night, on the road at Bethany College, and the result was a much needed 4-1 victory over the Swedes.
The Bulldog men controlled the possession of the ball for most of the game. The Swedes really only threatened on counter attacks when the Bulldogs turned the ball over. Offensively, the Bulldogs created numerous chances at goal early and often in the opening 45 minutes of play.
They broke through in the 13
th minute when
Chris Kelly (Sr. Glasgow, Scotland), one touched a ball into space on the right side of the 18 yard box to
Sadam Ali (Sr. Tucson, Ariz.). Ali then played a ball across the box, behind the defense to
David Mwinga (R-Jr. Santa Rosa, Calif.), who was sprinting in from the left side. Mwinga's shot went under the diving Swede goal keeper and into the back of the net, giving the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead. Mac had several more chances in the half, but were unable to connect the rest of the way.
Twenty-five minutes into the second half, the Bulldogs got on the board again. After a Swede foul about 35 yards out, Kelly stepped up to take the free kick. With his left foot, he played an "in-swinger" into the box near the penalty spot.
Aaron McCready (So. Raphoe, Ireland), tracked the ball and met it with his head. He redirected the ball to the right and past the keeper, who was moving the opposite direction.
Up 2-0, the Bulldogs were seemingly in control of the match. However, in the 78
th minute, things got a little dicey when the Bulldogs were called for a foul inside the 18 yard box, resulting in a penalty kick for the home team.
Thomas Kleywegt (Jr. Gravesend, England) guessed and dove to his left, but the Swedes' Jack Rhys-Jones shot the ball to the other corner, cutting the Bulldog lead in half, and giving life to Bethany.
Less than 2 minutes later, the Swedes would return the favor and foul the Bulldogs in the box, which gave Mac a penalty try. Kelly was given the honor and he promptly buried the shot to give his team another two goal lead. In the 85
th minute Kelly picked up his 6
th point of the night, scoring his second goal of the game on a shot from the top of the box that hit the bottom of the cross bar and went in. For the game he finished with 2 goals and 2 assists.
As a team, the Bulldogs took a total of 19 shots, and placed 9 of them on goal The Swedes managed 12 shots, but only 6 of them would have scored had Kleywegt not been there to make the save.
Bulldog head coach,
Doug Quint, commented on his team's performance saying, "Tonight I felt we were very organized defensively and built well in possession. Our ball movement was good and it created nice opportunities to score. After Wednesday's match it was sweet to see our guys more composed in front of goal."
With the win, the Bulldogs move to 3-6-3 overall, and 3-2-2 in the KCAC. They will try and keep the momentum going on Wednesday when they host the Sterling College Warriors at 7:30 pm at McPherson Stadium.
