McPherson, KS – The McPherson College men's soccer team ran into a little bad luck last Wednesday night when they hosted the Kansas Wesleyan University Coyotes at McPherson Stadium. The Bulldogs were leading 2-1 in the 51
st minute when the game was suspended due to lightning. The game was eventually cancelled and the game was rescheduled for tonight at 7:00 pm.
Unfortunately, the original game could not be counted as official because it hadn't reached the 70
th minute and by rule, the rescheduled game would have to be restarted at 0-0, with all stats being reset. So the Bulldogs and Coyotes met again on Monday night, this time no lightning, but just a steady rain for the duration of the game.
Twenty-one minutes into the opening half, the Coyotes got on the board. They collected the ball off of a poorly cleared ball by the Bulldog defense and then crossed the ball to the far post where Yader Rodriguez was left unguarded just outside of the 6 yard box. With no Bulldogs around him, he fired a ball past
Thomas Kleywegt (Jr. Gravesend, England), who was in goal for McPherson.
Two minutes later, with the Coyotes threatening again, the Bulldogs'
Navid Istanbullu (So. Bremen, Germany) was called for a foul inside the 18 yard box, setting up a penalty kick for the Coyotes. The Coyote Captain, Tim Doherty, took the kick, going lower left, and just beating Kleywegt as he dove to his right. Moments later, the Coyotes were called for a handball, inside their penalty box, and the Bulldogs were awarded a penalty kick of their own.
Chris Kelly, (Sr. Glasgow, Scotland), was given the honor, and he slotted a ball in the lower right corner to cut the Coyote lead in half, 2-1.
In the 31
st minute, the Coyotes got an insurance goal to go up 3-1. The Bulldogs had played a ball into the box from the far sideline, but were unable to keep it in the box. As it came out, two Mac players converged on the ball, but both thought the other was going to take it. It ended up neither got to it and it fell on the foot of the Coyotes' Rodriguez who sent it forward to teammate Jose Escobedo. Running with Escobedo was a Bulldog defender, and coming off his line to meet the ball was Kleywegt. As all three players met, it appeared that the defender thought Kleywegt was going to clear the ball, and Kleywegt thought the same of the defender. Neither did what he thought the other was going to do, an in the end the ball wound up at the feet of Escobedo, who put the ball into an empty net to put the Coyotes up by 2 goals.
The Coyotes remained in front the rest of the half and the Bulldogs went into the locker room to try and regroup for the final 45 minutes. In the second session, the Bulldogs increased the pressure on the Coyotes in the midfield and in the Coyotes' defensive third. It resulted in several corner kicks and free kick situations. Unfortunately, they were unable to capitalize on those opportunities, and time ran out with the visitors still leading 3-1.
The Bulldogs won almost every statistical category, except the one that matters most, the score line. They outshot the Coyotes 10 to 7 and had 5 corner kicks to their 1. KWU did win the yellow card battle however. There were 8 players booked by the center official, 5 of them were wearing purple and gold. Kleywegt finished the night in goal for the Bulldogs, facing 4 shots on goal by the Coyotes, and saving one of them.
With the loss, the Bulldogs fall to 2-6-2 on the year, and 2-2-1 in conference play. They will try and right the ship this coming Wednesday when they go on the road to play Bethel College. Kickoff is slated for 7:30 pm in North Newton, Kansas.
