Flurry of Second Half Goals Pushes Pilots Over USF
Fort Wayne, Ind. – The Bethel men’s soccer team took on St. Francis in Crossroads League action on Wednesday afternoon, and after falling behind 2-0 with less than 30 minutes remaining, unleashed a flurry of 5 straight goals to take a 5-2 victory. The Pilots improve to 9-4-2 overall and 3-2-1 in the Crossroads League following the win.
The Cougars lit the scoreboard first with a penalty kick goal from Julian Colantonio in the 16th minute of the match to take a 1-0 lead early. The Pilots had plenty of chances in the first period to get on the board, but none of their 13 shots found the mark as the Cougar keeper turned away seven of them.
The Cougars were quick to add to their lead in the second period as Juan Bucaram headed in a goal in the period’s first 20 minutes to grab a 2-0 advantage. After missing on their first 15 shots of the match, the Pilots finally broke through and immediately answered to pull within one as Zac Schoon beat the keeper off the left side on a beautiful drop in by Pedro Patino to bring it to 2-1.
The Pilots continued to pressure the Cougars and were rewarded as Bruno Jaeger finished off a rebound from a Samuel Biek shot knot the score at 2-2 with just over 20 minutes remaining. Biek was credited with an assist on the play.
Jaeger found the back of the net for the second time in the match on a cross from Patino to the far post and Jaeger tapped it in to give the Pilots their first lead of the match with 18 minutes remaining. The Pilots tacked on two goals late as Jose Barquin got in on the action in the 87th minute with a rocket to the near post off Biek’s second assist of the match and JT Brown tallied his first goal of the season less than a minute later off a loose ball situation in the box off Javier Vera’s pass in the 88th minute.
Philip Keller made two saves on four Cougar shots on the afternoon while Ronaldo Fuentes led the Pilots with four shots on the day. Jaeger netted the team’s first multi-goal game of the season with his fourth and fifth goals while Patino added to his team-leading assist total with his fifth and sixth of the season.
The Pilots return home on Saturday to take on Huntington at Morey Field at 7:00 pm, the first of three remaining regular season matches for the Pilots.