Grace College Athletics

WINONA LAKE, Ind. - Grace College's Men's soccer team pulled off a top-25 upset at First Source Bank Field on Saturday night.

The Lancers (3-6-4, 1-3-1 Crossroads League) topped No. 25 Bethel 1-0 for their first conference win of the season.

Grace was on the attack from the opening whistle. The Lancers had a dangerous corner kick opportunity less than a minute into the game.

The Lancers dominated possession throughout the half. When the Pilots did gain the ball they were pestered by Grace's defense and stayed hemmed into their half of the pitch.

The first shot of the game belonged to the Lancers. A set-piece opportunity saw a ball crossed into the box and Tyler Casado headed it toward goal but it went just high of the crossbar and fell harmlessly out of play.

With 10 minutes left in the half a Bethel foul allowed Henrique Pereira to try a direct kick from eight yards outside the box. His attempt went off the Pilot wall but set up a corner kick chance.

Pereira took the corner and his ensuing try sliced towards the goal. It took a slight redirection off the top of the head of a Bethel defender but stayed true, as it crossed the goal line to give Grace a 1-0 lead.

Late in the half the Pilots had their first two shots of the game, but neither try was threatening as both attempts sailed well wide of goal.

At the intermission Grace held a narrow 3-2 advantage in shots and a 2-0 edge in corner kicks.

The start of the second half saw Bethel increase their physicality and early in the half it seemed to help the Pilots generate offense. The Pilots had two shots, including one that forced a save from Ben Kenn, and a corner kick opportunity.

In the 54th minute the Pilots were whistled for the first yellow card after a dangerous play on a ball at midfield. 

Following the yellow card, Grace again began to dictate the pace of play. The Pilots defense was whistled for four fouls over the next few minutes as they tried to wrestle control of the ball back. 

Unable to naturally create offense, the Pilots desperately started sending everyone towards goal in an effort to find the equalizer. 

Josh Cruz nearly took advantage of Bethel's aggressive strategy. He raced nearly the length of the pitch and had a one-on-one chance against the keeper. The Pilot's keeper made a kick save to keep the score at 1-0.

The Pilots came back with a shot of their own but Kenn easily scooped it up as the clock ticked under 10 minutes to go.

Pereira nearly had his second of the game with two chances in close succession, the second of which rang off the post.

Bethel's chances to create offense were nullified by four yellow cards in the final 5:29 of action as Grace held on for the 1-0.

The teams had identical stat lines in shots (8), shots on goal (3) and corner kicks (2). Bethel was whistled for 14 fouls to Grace's 11 and five yellows to the Lancers' one.

The Lancers will be home again on Wednesday when they host Spring Arbor at 7 P.M.