Written and Media by Yoshiko Tanimura.
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It was a beautiful mid-October day and the perfect weather to play soccer for the Greenville College men’s soccer team as they traveled to MacMurray College. They took on the Highlanders in their fifth conference match-up of the season. The Panthers felt pressure to bring home a result if they wanted a shot at the conference tournament.
When the opening whistle blew, GC came out hot as freshman forward, Christian Gomez, created a chance on goal. Unfortunately, the shot was directed right at MacMurray’s goalkeeper and the score remained 0-0. This goal lit a fire under MacMurray as the team felt threatened on their home turf. 15 minutes into the first half, the Highlanders found the back of the net putting them up 1-0. Even though MacMurray University got the first goal, GC fought to gain the upper hand.
Head coach of Greenville College men’s soccer, Chris Swift, decided it was time to make a lineup change to come back from the early goal. The game continued to go back and forth as both teams tried harder to make a goal before the halftime whistle blew. At halftime, it was 1-0 in MacMurray’s favor.
The beginning of the second half looked bright for GC as they created two scoring opportunities off corner kicks in the opening minutes. However, the Panthers did not score and it was still 1-0 in MacMurray’s favor. MacMurray waited for a chance to double their score on the Panthers and they did five minutes into the second half. The Highlanders put another one past GC with an updated score of 2-0. The Panthers came back with a goal from Sophomore midfielder, Edgar Bueno. He buried a penalty kick past the MacMurry goal keeper. It was a glimmer of hope that was desperately needed. With less than 20 minutes left in the game and a score line of 2-1, GC capitalized on another chance to score as Gomez finished a beautiful assist by Sophomore, Caleb Mulholland.
GC kept control over the ball and tried to create another scoring opportunity before the final whistle blew. However, MacMarry University’s defense could not be broken and blocked the Panthers last minutes of attack. As the last whistle blew, the score remained the same. Overtime failed to crown a winner and after 110 minutes of play, the game ended in a 2-2 draw. Even though it was a tied game, GC showed their strength throughout the game.
The men’s soccer team will be traveling to Louisville, Kentucky, on Wednesday, October 19 to compete against Spalding Unveristy. You won’t want to miss it!
