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Southwestern University

LAST SECOND SAVE GIVES PIRATES WIN IN CONFERENCE CHALLENGE THRILLER

LAST SECOND SAVE GIVES PIRATES WIN IN CONFERENCE CHALLENGE THRILLER
Posted: Sep 05, 2009

The Pirate soccer team improved to 3-0 with a thrilling 2-1 win over the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (1-1) in the final game of the Conference Challenge.

Southwestern started the game off by attacking the Crusader defense early, firing seven shots in the first 8 minutes of the game. The Crusaders we able to parry the blows and prevent the Pirates from scoring in the first half despite several close calls. Bo Baker started the scoring in the game by notching UMHB’s only goal of the match in the 14th minute. Baker was assisted by Andrew Carrasco.

The Pirate attack in the first half was led by junior Alex Keller and senior Josh Spencer. Both had two of the Pirates 11 shots in the first 45 while the Crusaders had only two.

Pirate head coach Don Gregory made key changes to the Pirate’s positioning during the second half, including moving Alex Keller to a forward position and Josh Spencer to the midfield. In the 63rd minute Evan Perkins made a run from his left back position and beat two defenders to play a through ball from just past midfield to Alex Keller who was running by the UMHB defense. Keller, who already has 3 assists on the year, scored his first goal of the season by putting the ball into the back of the net on his first touch. The assist was Perkins’ 1st.

The Southwestern onslaught continued in the 64th minute with Charlie Schreck’s first collegiate goal. After a long Pirate throw by Keller into the UMHB box, Schreck took full advantage of a loose ball and blistered it past the hands of the UMHB keeper in the lower left-hand corner to give the Pirates the lead.

With just over 25 minutes remaining, the Pirate defense dug in and kept the Crusaders at bay for the remainder of the game. UMHB continued to try to penetrate the Pirate defense with little success until the final seconds of the game. A diagonal run by a UMHB player allowed for one final shot as time ran out. Sophomore defender Colin McCulloh (pictured) stepped in to clear what was nearly the game tying goal as the horn sounded to end the game.

Southwestern dominated the shot totals 14-5 and totaled four corner kicks to UMHB’s three. Pirate goal keeper Nick Pierce only needed to make two saves in the Pirate win while UMHB goal keeper Mark Miller was forced to make seven saves.

Southwestern heads to Abilene to continue Conference Challenge action at host school Hardin Simmons. The Pirates face off against the University of Texas-Dallas on September 11th at 2:00 pm in Abilene.