The Southwestern Men's Soccer team earned a hard-fought win against Concordia University last Friday night, a team that was picked to win the American Southwest Conference in the preseason polls.
The Pirates gained an early lead in the match thanks to a goal from sophomore defender Michael Grimm off an assist from a fellow defender, freshman, Raghav Sharma. The Pirate's goal came in the 7' minute on just their first shot of the game.
The game was evenly matched from that point on as each offense put pressure on the other throughout the first half. The Southwestern defense held strong in the first, allowing zero goals on ten shots and four corner kicks from Concordia.
The game got more physical and highly contested later on in the second half. There were only a combined five shots from both teams and only two corners and the physical play was highlighted by four yellow cards given out in the second half between the two teams.
In all, the Pirates were able to hold Concordia to zero goals for their third shutout of the season.
After nearly a month of being on the road the Pirates had the chance to play at Varsity Field for the first time this season, and against a team picked to finish second in the ASC, Mary Hardin-Baylor.
Undoubtedly excited to play their first home match of the season the Pirates and Crusaders got off to a lightning pace, neither team bothering to let the other make the first move. After a back-and-forth first half, junior forward Jackson DeHaven fought through a defender, found himself with space on the wing, and delivered the ball to Greyson Pinto. Pinto made a move past his defender, shot the ball while sliding down, and delivered a goal for the Pirates in the 37' minute.
The Pirates made it to the end of the first half with a 1-0 lead. However, Southwestern knew the lead wasn't safe and both teams came out with just as much energy as they led the game with.
About 10 minutes into the second half, the Crusaders were awarded a penalty kick which they were able to convert to tie the game at one goal apiece.
The Pirates continued to push hard to take the lead after the Crusader's goal, unwilling to tie their first home match of the season. The corners favorited the Pirates 7-3 in the second half, but it was the Crusaders who made good on a corner kick opportunity to give them the 2-1 lead in the 65' minute.
The shot total and corner kicks for the match were almost even coming in at 18 to 16 and 8 to 5, both stat lines favoring the Pirates. But one ball bounced in favor of the Crusaders and that was all they needed to secure a 2-1 victory over Southwestern.
Men's Soccer Travels to Kerrville, Texas to face the Scheiner Mountaineers on Friday, September 30th at 4:00 PM
Photo by Carlos Barron