Men's Soccer 10/8/2016 12:00:00 AM

No. 24 Men's Soccer and Goshen end in 1-1 tie

Box Score

SPRING ARBOR, Mich. – Missed opportunities defined the Saturday night's match as the No. 24 ranked Spring Arbor University men's soccer team battled Crossroads League rival Goshen College to a 1-1 draw at the Cougar Soccer Complex.

THE BASICS

FINAL SCORE: #24 Spring Arbor 1, Goshen 1

LOCATION: Cougar Soccer Complex | Spring Arbor, Mich.

RECORDS: Spring Arbor 9-2-3 (3-0-2 CL), Goshen 4-5-4 (2-2-1 CL)

HOW IT HAPPENED

Spring Arbor controlled possession most of the night as Goshen was content to sit back and defend.
The Cougars grabbed the lead just over 17 minutes into the contest with a goal from junior Mitchell Simon. SAU earned a free kick just outside the 18-yard box, and on a well-executed set piece, Lewis Jones ended up finding Simon right in front of the goal, and Simon finished it into the back of the net.
Spring Arbor would continue to pepper Goshen with shots the rest of the night, but would be unable to tack on an important insurance goal.
The Cougars' inability to put the Maple Leafs would come back to haunt them. With less than three minutes remaining, the Maple Leafs were awarded a free kick near midfield and GC's Nate Nussbaum served a long ball into the box. The ball would find the head of an SAU player and ricochet into the net to level the score.
In the extra periods, the Cougars attempted eight shots but were unable to get anything past Goshen's Johan Escalante.
SAU finished the night with a 30-7 advantage in shots, but were only able to get six of those attempts on target.
The Cougars also held a 9-2 edge in corner kicks.

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE

Even though it was not the result the Cougars were looking for, the team still extended its home unbeaten streak 18 matches.
Tonight's match marked the third draw between the two sides in the last five meetings. The Cougars are 1-1-3 against the Leafs since 2012.
The Cougars remain as the only unbeaten team in the Crossroads League, but dropped to second place in the conference standings behind Bethel (9-5-0, 4-1-0 CL) due to total points.

FOR THE FOES

Nate Nussbaum accounted for six of Goshen's seven shots.
Goalkeeper Johan Escalante tested frequently throughout the match, but played big between the pipes for the Leafs finishing with five saves.

QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH NATHAN MILLER

"We are obviously extremely disappointed with the result. It's really poor to concede that late off a free kick from 60 yards out. It was sloppy and we paid a big price."
"We were prepared for them playing in a very low block and we created a ton of chances. Our finishing this year has been very sharp but today we lacked that killer edge you need against teams that play to frustrate."
"I was very pleased that as the moment got bigger and bigger our guys had the courage to go after those chances and didn't back down."
"We love this team and love the direction we are headed."

UP NEXT

Spring Arbor will hit the road and travel to Mount Vernon, Ohio to take on Mount Vernon Nazarene University (10-3-1, 3-2-0 CL) on Wednesday, Oct. 12 at 4 p.m.

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