Elsah, ILL. -- Principia Men's Soccer hosted the Millikin University Big Blue on Saturday evening. Both teams played games on Friday night, and came into the Saturday night matchup ready to play hard.
The first half was defined by defensive play on both sides. The Principia Men were organized defensively in their own half and produced a few dangerous counter-attacking opportunities. The Big Blue tested the Principia defense on a number of occasions, but strong defensive play from
Caleb Grow,
Carson Hussey, and
David McCook, as well as dependable goalkeeping from
Nick Klusmeyer, held Millikin goalless for a majority of the match. Reigning NCAA Point-Leader,
Kaleb Keller, in his first appearance of the season, created a couple of dangerous scoring chances in the first half, most notably hitting a long range strike off of the crossbar.
Kaden Keller (captain) played an important role in Principia's organization, playing a number of different roles during the game, moving from the highest attacking position to the deepest defensive position.
At halftime, Principia made some tactical adjustments in an effort to control the game. It was a challenging task, as Millikin controlled much of the possession in the early parts of the second half while Principia put in a tough defensive shift. In the 56
th minute though, Millikin found the deciding goal on a breakaway.
In the closing 15 minutes of the match, the Principia Men showed great strength, skill, and passion to fight for an equalizing goal until the very last second.
After an intensive weekend, the Principia Men will have the next couple of days to rest and begin preparations for their next match at Illinois College on Thursday, September 5
th. We hope to see you there!
