DENVER, Colo. – The Regis University Men's Soccer team held the #9 ranked Point Loma Nazarene University Sea Lions at bay on Thursday, drawing their third match of the year, 1-1.
HOW IT HAPPENED
It would be over five minutes into the match before either team even attempted a shot, and Senior GK Greg Squire would save the shot by PLNU. The Sea Lions would take another shot before Sahar Golov took the first try for RU at 10:20. Liam Corr took a shot of his own, and in the 30th minute, Elias Taubo landed the Rangers first shot on goal, though it was saved by the Sea Lions. Point Loma took a flurry of shots to close out the half, but were unsuccessful, and the match went into the break at a 0-0 stalemate.
"I thought we had a slow start and it took us some time to settle into the game," said Head Coach Taylor Diem. "Point Loma are a very good team and threw some things at us that we hadn't seen before, so I was happy to get into halftime 0-0."
Johan Murillo would break the tie nine minutes into the second, putting in a shot set up by Vasili Papadopoulos and Jacobo Betancourt-Tovar. However, PLNU would quickly respond, scoring just four minutes later on a Emmett Layman-assisted goal by Simon Sagal. Taubo's shot in the 64th minute hit the woodwork, and another was saved two minutes later. The Sea Lions had a final pair of near misses, one off the crossbar and the other saved by Squire, and the match ended in a 1-1 draw.
"We made some adjustments at the break and I thought we defended well in the second, but overall weren't good enough on the ball," continued Diem. "At the end of the day, you'll take a point against a top-10 team, but we need to learn from this and be better going into Saturday."
GAME NOTES
· Squire totaled five saves in the match, and Reinier ter Riet had three
· Taubo matched game-highs of three shots and two on target
· PLNU had six more corner kicks than RU in the first half, and each had four in the second
· The assist for Papadopoulos was his first point in a Ranger uniform.
UP NEXT
The Rangers look to secure their first victory on Saturday as they host Biola University (Calif.) at 1 PM.
