Box Score By: B.J. Pheasant, Assistant Soccer Coach
(NEW WILMINGTON, Pa.) –Thomas More College men's soccer traveled to Pennsylvania to face Westminster College on Saturday, October 15, 2016 in their second conference match of the season. The Saints drew with the Titans 1-1 to move to 3-0-1 in the Presidents Athletic Conference and 8-6-1 overall while the Titans move to 5-5-4 overall and 2-1-2 in the PAC.
"We were not good in the first half and were good in the rest of the game," said TMC Head Coach Eric Busener. "A lot of games are won on effort and we didn't come to play in the first half. We pulled it together in the second half and over time. Now we need to figure out how to play that way from the start."
It was a tale of two halves between the Saints and Titans. In the first half Jeff Paulin (Alexandria, Ky./Bishop Brossart) had a tremendous 1v1 save early to keep Thomas More even. The Saints had two shots in the half to seven for the Titans. In the 25th minute Patrick Louis (Fort Thomas, Ky./Newport Central Catholic) had a good curling effort upper 90 to the right corner that just missed. In the 36th minute Griffin Garrison (Cincinnati, Ohio/McNicholas) ripped an upper 90 shot just wide of the left corner.
The energy increased in the second half after the Titans scored four minutes into the half to take the 1-0 lead. The Saints went on to outshoot the Titans in the 65 minutes of the second half and overtime 21-8. Six of those shots went off the post or cross bar. In the 85th minute Ethan Smith (Columbus, Ind./Columbus North) earned a penalty kick that was converted by Brian Runyon (Parkersburg, W.Va./Parkersburg) for the tying goal.
The overtime period was all Saints as they pinned the Titans to their goal line with incredible energy and effort. On one sequence the Titans goal keeper made a save, the rebound was shot off the post, another shot was blocked, and a fourth shot went off the post before it was desperately cleared away. Unfortunately, none of the shots went and the game ended in a draw.
The Saints next host Grove City College on Thursday, October 15th at 2 p.m. If you aren't able to make it out to the match live video and stats are available with links found on TMCSaints.com on the men's soccer Schedule page.
