Men's Soccer | 9/27/2018 1:35:00 AM
Box Score Ottawa, KS – After a tough loss earlier this week, on the road at Friends University, the McPherson College men's soccer team bounced back with a much needed win over the Ottawa University Braves on Saturday night.
Back on the road again, the Bulldogs scored a pair of goals in the first half, to help propel them to a 2-1 victory over the Braves. Mac dominated the time of possession throughout the first half. They were able to control the pace of the game by knocking the ball around, moving it out of the defensive end of the field, through the midfield, and on numerous occasions, in behind the Braves' defense for a chance at goal.
In the 10
th minute of the opening half, the tactics paid off, and
Navid Istanbullu (So. Bremen, Germany) picked off a pass from the Braves, then found
Diego Loza, (Sr. San Diego, Calif.) streaking down the sideline. Istanbullu sent Loza in behind the Braves with a beautiful through ball. Loza was able to get just enough foot on the ball to poke it past the Braves' goal keeper.
The Bulldogs scored, what would turn out to be the game winner, in the final minute of the first half.
David Mwinga (R-Jr. Santa Rosa, Calif.) found himself on the receiving end of a
Chris Kelly (Sr. Glasgow, Scotland) pass on the far post. The assist by Kelly was the 2
nd of the season, but 24
th overall for his career, making him the all-time assists leader in Bulldog history.
The Bulldogs have struggled this season, putting team away. In several contests thus far, they have had leads at half time, only to let their opponents' back into the game. Saturday's game at Ottawa had the same feel about it. In the 71
st minute, a foul by the Bulldogs set the Braves up with a free kick in the midfield. The Braves lofted ball into the Bulldogs' 18 yard box where it found the head of the Braves' Lewis Verdouw.
Thomas Kleywegt (Jr. Gravesend, England), who was seeing action in goal for the Bulldogs, for the first time this season, came out to challenge the ball in the air. He got to the ball a little late, and Verdouw was able to head the ball over Kleywegt and into the back of the net, to cut the Bulldog lead in half, 2-1.
Fortunately for the Bulldogs, the Braves never really threatened again the rest of the way, and they were able to hold on for the victory. The Bulldogs outshot the Braves 11 to 7, but the Braves had 2 more shots on goal, 4-2. Kleywegt, in 90 minutes of action, came up big for the Bulldogs 3 times, thwarting the Braves' goal scoring chances.
"We had a solid performance tonight start to finish", said MC head coach
Doug Quint. "Ottawa is a well coached side, and they always present a tough challenge. Tonight we defended well, limited their opportunities while managing the game with our possession. We stayed switched on and it was great to see. "
With the win, the Bulldogs move to 2-5-2 overall, and 2-1-1 in KCAC action. They will go for conference win number 3 on Wednesday night at 7:00 pm when they host the Kansas Wesleyan University Coyotes at McPherson Stadium.
