The Ashland University men’s soccer team found a draw on Saturday, Sept. 16, as they took on the Malone Pioneers in the team’s second Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC) outing of the season.
The Eagles battled from start to finish, rebounding after trailing by two at one point in time, off the hot leg of fifth-year senior Oliver Whaley who knocked in two goals in the 3-3 draw.
To begin the contest, the Pioneers quickly rose to action and knocked in the opening goal. The goal was scored by Pioneer midfielder Gavin Csiszar in the 14th minute off a clean slice past Eagle goalkeeper Zander Throckmorton.
With a 1-0 lead, the Eagles began ramping up the aggression and pace offensively. They started to put immense pressure on the Pioneer defense and mistakes would occur resulting in a foul inside the box for the Eagles in the 17th minute. After the penalty, Whaley would take control of the opportunity and knot the game up at one apiece.
The next goal would come from the Pioneers as they answered right back and took the lead in the 23rd minute.
The Eagle defense showed flaws, and substitute forward Miles Schmidt took advantage finding the third goal of the outing to put the Pioneers up 2-1.
They would find one more before halftime hit as forward Braden Lamb who knocked in a goal unassisted in the 40th minute, putting the lead to two heading into the remaining 50 minutes of play.
The scoreline at the half read 3-1 in favor of the Pioneers, with plenty of work needing to be done in the second half if the Eagles wanted to find at least one point from the outing. The Pioneers outshot the Eagles 6-4, while also fouling the Eagles 10 times in the first half.
In half number two, things flipped as the Eagles started to capitalize on mistakes made by the Pioneers.
Down by two goals, midfielder Vander Rocha found his first goal of the season in the 57th minute, just 12 minutes after the half began. An offensive prowl led by midfielder Whaley who dished the ball off to Rocha, before drilling it into the back netting.
Just moments later the Eagles would go down a man as Throckmorton fouled a Pioneer outside the box, warranting an immediate red card. However, even with adversity the Eagles would not go away.
The Eagles continued to fight as they found the tieing goal in the 61st minute, just four minutes after the previous goal. This one came at the hands of Whaley once again as he brought the contest to a standstill at three a piece.
The two sides ended the contest with a 3-3 scoreline and one point for the conference table.
The Eagles will now look to take on the Trevecca Nazarene Trojans and Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers this week on the road. They will take on the Trojans on Thursday, Sept. 21 at 4:30 p.m. and the Panthers on Saturday, Sept. 23 at 3:30 p.m.
