Box Score WINONA LAKE, Ind. - Grace College's men's soccer team added another tally to their win column on Saturday afternoon as they dispatched the Goshen Maple Leafs 4-0.
With the win the Lancers (11-3-2, 5-2 Crossroads League) are tied for second place in the conference with No. 9 Indiana Wesleyan and sit just one behind the No. 3 Bethel for first place with two games left in the regular season. IWU and Bethel have yet to play and will meet on the final day of the season.
Grace will play its final home game of the season on Saturday against Mount Vernon before closing out the regular season slate on October 29 against Taylor. The contest against Mount Vernon will also be senior day for the men's soccer team.
Saturday's game, which had its start time adjusted by three hours because of looming storms in the region, started slow and methodical. Over 10 minutes had eclipsed before Goshen (6-6-3, 0-5-2 CL) had the first shot attempt of the game. The Maple Leafs added two corner kicks in close order but Grace fended off each attempt.
Sebastian Lozano had the first shot on target for the Lancers which sparked a frenzy of opportunities over the next several minutes. The Lancers had three shots on goal as they dominated possession over the middle portion of the half.
In the 21st minute Grace was awarded a corner kick which led to the game's first marker.
Juan Garcia played a short corner to
Luis Munoz who arched a shot on goal. Just before his attempt was able to be punched away by the Goshen keeper,
Vasco Tavares leaped at the ball and redirected it with his head just enough to beat the keeper and give the Lancers the 1-0 advantage.
Grace kept the pressure up for the remainder of half as
Miguel Lourenco,
Maxime Bregeon and
Osmildo Estrela all had shots.
At the half the Lancers led 1-0 and held a wide margin in shots (7-1) and slight edge in corner kicks (3-2).
As the second half got under way it didn't take long for the 20th ranked Lancers to begin to assert their will.
Bregeon fed Munoz the ball at the top of the 18-yard box and Munoz wasted no time in blasting a shot into the back of the net to double Grace's lead. Two minutes later the Lancers scored again.
In a near identical spot as Munoz on the previous goal,
Diego Yanes got the ball at the top of the box and ripped a shot into the upper portion of the goal to put Grace ahead by three. Munoz continued to show his offensive prowess as he assisted on the goal. He played a hand in each of the first three goals for Grace.
Even ahead by three and Grace continued to force the issue. The Lancers used precision passing to work the ball across the field to find
Juan Garcia who put the exclamation point on the game with the Lancers fourth and final goal.
Teague Misner and
Josh Cruz assisted on the marker.
The Lancers didn't allow an attempt on goal in the second half, helping
Ben Kenn secure the complete game shutout.
Grace ended the game with a 12-1 lead in shots and 4-2 advantage in corner kicks. Both teams were whistled for 11 fouls.
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