Elsah, IL –
Principia Men's Soccer played their first SLIAC conference match on Saturday against the Highlanders of MacMurray College. Principia held most of the possession and outshot the Highlanders 20 to 3. Despite the Panthers controlling the flow of play, MacMurray held a tight defensive line and prevented Principia from creating many clear goal scoring chances.
Seth Arens,
George Agai,
Patrick Sherman, and
Kaden Keller all had looks at goal in the first half, but couldn't find the back of the net.
Gastuvas Balukake entered the match in the 58
th minute, making his season debut. He instantly had an impact on the game, sending dangerous services into the box and making important tackles to keep possession. Principia won a corner in the 78
th minute and Balukake whipped a ball to E.G. Pierce on the far post, which E.G. strongly nodded in to take the lead.
Connor Goering and
Jordan Jones both entered the game to help see out the last ten minutes.
In the 87
th minute, Gustavo Gutierrez took a shot from long range that deflected off of a Principia defender and rolled into the bottom left corner to level the score at 1-1.
Principia continued to threaten the MacMurray goal in overtime and in the seventh minute of the first extra period,
Gastuvas Balukake connected with a rebound in the box and scored the game winner for Principia. Balukake had a standout performance on a day when Principia needed someone to step up.
The Principia men hit the road on Tuesday, October 8
th to face Eureka College in their second conference match.
