Leavenworth, Kan – The Bulldogs faced the Saint Mary Spires on Saturday night for their third consecutive road match dating back to September 20
th when they took on Evangel University. The Warriors had dropped three of their last four matches by a combined score of 7-20, while the Bulldogs were coming off a dominant 6-1 victory over Sterling College the previous Wednesday.
The Basics
Location: Charles Berkel Memorial Stadium
Score: MC 4, USM 7
Records: MC 3-5-1 (1-2-1 KCAC), USM 3-4-2 (1-2-1 KCAC)
How it Happened
In this high-scoring affair, the Spires held the advantage over the Bulldogs in the first half by a small margin of 3-2, but Saint Mary featured a higher efficiency on offense. Their first goal would come off the head of Rylan Nowak on Stefan Donovic's corner kick, putting it just out of reach of the hands of
Alvaro Marchal for the 1-0 lead. In the 29
th minute, disaster struck the Spires as a ball played into the Saint Mary box was headed in by a Spire defender, scoring McPherson's first goal to level the match at 1-1.
Just a minute later, the Bulldogs would take the lead as
Nathan Van Wyck scored off a free kick attempt from nearly 30 yards away for the 2-1 advantage. The lead would last for just over one minute as Saint Mary's Robin Van Voorst was able to fire a shot from close range after rebounding a long distance shot off the crossbar to knot the game at 2-2. Rounding out the first half madness, the Spires managed one more score in the 33
rd minute as Van Voorst scored his second of the match. On another corner kick from Donovic, Van Voorst put ball to head and fired it into the net for the 3-2 lead. The Spires fired off 11 shots in the first half compared to McPherson's four.
Right out of the halftime break, Van Wyck knotted the game back at 3-3 after his penalty kick in the 49
th minute of action. Daniel Castro of Saint Mary would take the lead back for the Spires at 4-3 in the 53
rd minute off the assist of Matias Allou; it was yet another corner kick where Castro's head blasted the ball into McPherson's net off the Allou assist. Isha Hughan made it two consecutive goals to extend their lead in the 59
th minute after being delivered a beautiful pass from Jude Rodwell, striking it into the lower left corner with his free shot on goal for the 5-3 lead. Hughan scored his second of the match three minutes later to push the lead to 6-3. The Spires scored their final goal of the match in the 69
th minute as Zxyon Hendricks' long ball into the box met the head of Alfie Scandle who placed it into the lower right corner for the 7-3 lead.
McPherson's
Alex Escobedo managed a goal in the 90
th minute with seconds ticking away, but the Spires' lead was too large to match as Saint Mary took the 7-4 victory at home.
Up Next
The Bulldogs host the Bethany College Swedes this Wednesday at McPherson Stadium on October 1
st with kickoff set for 7:30 PM.
