INDIANAPOLIS – The Marian men's soccer team battled it out with Huntington at St. Vincent Field Saturday afternoon, but came up short as they suffered the 4-2 loss over the Foresters. The Knights drop to 4-8-2 overall and 1-4-1 in Crossroads League play.
Huntington was the first to strike, getting two quick goals in the opening five minutes of play. Joao Ratinho scored the first goal behind the assist from Edoardo Moretti before Pablo Garcia scored a couple minutes later.
Even though the Knights were down to start, they continued to make the Forester defense work by posting nine shots in the half. Sebastian Gonzalez had a great chip shot over the Huntington goalie, but went just to the right of the goal. Moments later Justin Kapp made the Huntington keeper work as he had a header on goal. The duo of Gonzalez and Kapp continued to put pressure on the Huntington defense as the two took the next two attempts, before Jack Reynolds and Dylann Merchand got in on the action as well by taking attempts.
The work from Gonzalez paid off in the 35th minute as he put one in the back of the net off the assist from Valentin Neuhold to put the Knights within one at 2-1. The momentum shift did not last long as Huntington's Garcia got himself a hat trick by scoring two more goals in the half to give the Foresters the 4-1 lead at the break.
The second half was proved to be a fight between the two teams with Marian controlling the possession this time, outshooting Huntington 17-1.
In the 54th minute, a ball was played in the box that saw Gonzalez and the Huntington goalie collide, give a penalty kick to Marian. Reynolds took the penalty kick for the Knights, booting it past the keeper to cut the lead back 4-2. The Marian offense was rolling as seven Knights had great looks at goals; however, even with the aggressive offense by the Knights, they were unable to capitalize on any of the attempts.
Marian posted 26 total shots in the game, with Gonzalez's six attempts leading the way. Reynolds added five attempts, while Van Keulen posted four. Merchand, Kapp, and Dawdy each made three shot attempts, while Sam Goodin and Miguel Luna each had one. Brendan Weiger and Alvaro Rueda teamed up in goal for the Knights, with Weiger making six saves and Ruedo making one.
The Knights will be on the road at Goshen on October 22 for their next game with a 7 PM start.
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