MOUNT VERNON, Ohio - Grace College's men's soccer team earned a 1-1 draw with the Mount Vernon Nazarene Cougars on Saturday night.
The Lancers' (4-7-5, 2-4-2 Crossroads League) lone goal came with 30 minutes left in the second half. It was
Teague Misner who scored the equalizer for Grace.
With just one game left in the regular season the Lancers sit in seventh-place in the conference and need just one point in their final contest to clinch a spot in the Crossroads League Tournament.
MVNU (9-3-3, 3-3-2 CL) had the first three shots on goal of the contest. The Cougars shots came within the first 10:12 of action and forced a pair of saves from
Ben Kenn.
The Lancers first try was from
Osmildo Estrela and was headed on goal but saved by the Cougars' keeper. The Lancers kept the pressure up and had the next five shots and two corner kick opportunities.
Despite playing on their back foot and being peppered with shots, the Cougars fired back with a goal in the 22nd minute with an unassisted marker to push ahead 1-0.
Grace and MVNU traded shots back and forth.
Josh Cruz had a shot trail wide and
Sebastian Lozano's shot was saved by the goalie.
Kenn was forced to make three saves late in the half to maintain the score as the Cougars entered the intermission with a 1-0 lead.
MVNU held a narrow 10-8 lead edge in shots and Grace had two corner kicks to the Cougars zero.
The Lancers and Cougars continued to blast shots towards goal early in the second half. The teams combined for seven shots in the first 15 minutes of the second frame.
In the 61st minute Grace found the tying score. Misner scored on an assist from
Noah Ballard to tie the game at one goal apiece.
Under two minutes later the Lancers nearly scored again when
Diogo Gomes forced a save on his bid to find the go-ahead goal.
The 77th minute saw the MVNU carry the attack until a yellow card on the Cougars swung momentum back in the Lancers' favor.
The final minute was a flurry of attack from the Cougars. MVNU tried four shots two of which were saved by Kenn and a third was blocked by a Grace defender as the Lancers hung on for the 1-1 tie.
The Lancers will close out the regular season at home on Wednesday against Taylor.
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