ELSAH, IL – Following a 2-0 season opening victory on Saturday over Missouri Baptist's varsity reserves, the Principia men's soccer team hosted Spurgeon College for their home opener on Tuesday afternoon.
The Panthers and Knights traded offensive chances in the first half but neither team could find the back of the net. A defensive lapse by Principia in the early moments of the second half allowed the Knights to take a 1-0 lead on a cross into the box that was slotted home by David Beltran.
Principia were able to create a ton of offensive chances throughout the second half as they pushed for an equalizer, but struggled with accurate shooting or connecting on the final pass. The Panthers thought they tied the game in the 58th minute, but the goal was called back for offsides. Principia kept pushing the rest of the game as they fired 18 shots in the second half, but it wasn't until the 84th minute until the Panthers finally had their breakthrough moment.
Freshman
Alejandro Liborio received a pass from
Juan Garcia Lopez at the top of the 18, made a quick move to the right of a defender and fired a beautiful shot past the diving goalkeeper into the top left corner for his first collegiate goal. Loud cheers rose up from big home crowd on hand who were thrilled to see the Panthers efforts finally rewarded with a goal.
Despite a few more close calls in the final five minutes, Principia was unable to beat Knights goalkeeper David Rodriguez again as the game ended in a 1-1 draw. Rodriguez finished with an impressive 11 saves on the night, while the Panthers continued their early season plan of rotating all three of their goalies.
Principia moves to 1-0-1 on the season and will look to stay undefeated when they travel to Indiana to take on Rose-Hulman on Saturday at 3:30 pm eastern time.
