Edwardsville, IL – Principia College Men's Soccer hosted Blackburn College at their temporary home field, Ralph Korte Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Big thanks to SIUE for opening their field to us while the game field in Elsah is getting prepared for the spring season.
A Look at the Game- The Panthers played a strong game, but ultimately came up short against the Beavers.
Cole Heinbaugh capitalized on an early chance, following up a rebound and tucking the ball away at a difficult angle in the 4
th minute. The Panthers pressed the Beavers and earned two penalty kicks in the first half. In the 12
th minute,
Walter Lazo was fouled in the box as he drove towards goal. Lazo placed his kick toward the bottom right corner, but the Blackburn goalkeeper, Dawson Klunk, made a great stop to keep the game at 1-0. In the 27
th minute
Patrick Sherman was fouled in the box, earning another penalty kick. His shot was low and to the left, but Klunk made another great save. 8 minutes later, Blackburn earned a penalty of their own on a controversial Principia hand ball. Luke Atkinson converted the penalty for the Beavers to tie the game at 1-1 going into halftime. Principia had 9 shots in the first half to Blackburn's 3. Principia continued to create chances in the second half and narrowly missed on a couple of great opportunities. In the 89
th minute Blackburn counter-attacked and a blocked shot fell to Luke Atkinson's feet, who finished the ball into the bottom left corner for his second goal of the game. Principia fought to earn a chance in the final 30 seconds of the game, but again couldn't find the goal. The game ended 1-2 in favor of Blackburn.
Good to Know-
- Principia had 12 shots on target to Blackburn's 6
- Principia earned 6 corner kicks
- Dawson Klunk made 10 saves for the Beavers, including two penalty saves
Coach Quote
"I'm proud of the guys for playing strong early and coming into the game ready to play. We created some really great opportunities from the start and we worked hard through the entire game. We failed to execute in some critical moments but I'm confident that this game will be a great learning experience and I'm looking forward to more opportunities this week. Credit to Blackburn for putting together one of their strongest squads we've seen in the last few years."-
Jess Semnacher
Box Score: https://principiaathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/stats/2020-2021/blackburn-college/boxscore/7076
Up Next- On Saturday, March 20, at 3:30PM,
Principia will play next against the Webster Gorloks at World Wide Technology Soccer Park.
We apologize for any explicit language that was picked up by the game-sound microphone towards the end of the game. The individuals responsible for the comments are not affiliated with Principia.
