Second-Half Lapses Cost Leaf Men In Season Opener At Madonna
Madonna scores three times in eight minutes to post win
LIVONIA, Mich. — Goshen College opened its 60th men’s soccer season Friday night at Madonna University. For much of the first half, it resembled Goshen’s 59th season: a defensive shutout, but without a goal to show on offense either. Unfortunately for the Maple Leafs, the game consisted of two halves and Madonna University scored three times after halftime to post a 3-0 win.
Nate Nussbaum put Goshen’s first shot high in the 19th minute, five minutes before Goshen’s best chance of the night came on a penalty kick and Madonna netminder Joe Smith kept the game scoreless. Neither team mustered a shot—on goal or otherwise—in the 14 minutes before halftime. Madonna took five shots to Goshen’s four in the first 31 minutes.
Yuri Farkas opened the scoring 7:32 after halftime to put Madonna up 1-0. Ninety-three seconds later, Hector Morales followed suit with an unassisted tally. Morales added Madonna’s third goal with a header off a Farkas corner kick with 29:50 to play.
“Madonna is always a very good team,” said Goshen head coach Arron Patrick. “They were clinical when we presented them with chances. We made three or four errors in this match that ruined a lot of the good work that we did.”
Madonna finished with a 13-4 shot margin and a 7-2 lead in shots on goal. Uriel Macias led Goshen with a pair of shots while Johan Escalante made two saves and Oliver Wisseman one. Jeff Wielczopolski and Joe Smith combined for the shutout in the Crusader net.
Farkas led all players with six shots: Macias and Smith each put attempts on frame for GC.
“I thought we were pretty good in the first half, and if anyone was going to take the lead, it looked like it would be us,” said Patrick. “The first mistake really shook us up, and we need to do a better job bouncing back mentally. We lost composure for less than eight minutes and good teams punish you when that happens.”
The Maple Leafs used eight substitutes and committed seven of the game’s 19 fouls. Four of the game’s five cards went to Madonna.
“There is not going to be any panic on our end—we trust this group and believe in them,” Patrick said. “We played almost every guy, lots of new faces got valuable minutes and we stayed injury free. The team our fans see on Wednesday will be exciting, energetic and a team our college can be very proud of.”
Goshen plays six of its next seven matches at home, including five doubleheaders with the women’s team in the month of September. The team’s home opener is set for Wednesday at 7 p.m. against Siena Heights.