RIO GRANDE, Ohio - Grace College's men's soccer went toe-to-toe with No. 4 Cumberlands on Thursday afternoon.
The Lancers (2-1) fell 2-1 to the Patriots in thrilling fashion. The game remained scoreless for the first 81 minutes before the teams exploded for three goals in five minutes.
The Patriots were the aggressor early on in the match and had two shots in the first six minutes of action. By the 15-minute mark Cumberlands added another shot and two corner kick opportunities.
Grace's defense withstood another barrage of chances at the midpoint of the frame and Lancers' goalie
Ben Kenn made a save to keep the game scoreless.
The Lancers best chance of the half came in the final minute.
Noah Ballard had a try on goal that forced a save from Cumberlands' goalie and the game entered the half tied at zero.
The Lancers were outshot 5-3 and had one less corner kick.
The second half followed the same script as the Patriots had the early chances.
Eric Favere had a Grace shot but it sailed wide of its target.
At the midpoint of the frame momentum swung in the Lancers' favor when consecutive yellow cards put the Patriots a man down.
With the man-advantage, Favere had another chance on goal and this time it was on target but was saved by the keeper. Two minutes later
Julian Saldivar broke the deadlock and pushed the Lancers ahead with 7:50 remaining in the game.
Grace lead proved to be short lived however as two minutes later the Patriots found the equalizer. As the clock fell under three minutes to go Cumberlands scored to move ahead 2-1.
The Lancers were unable to threaten over the final 2:57 as the Cumberlands escaped with the narrow victory.
The Lancers had half as many shot attempts but just one few shots on goal. Both teams had two corner kicks and combined for 29 fouls.
The Lancers will be back in action on Saturday as they take on No. 24 Rio Grande.
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