Tuesday
On September 22, the Saint Xavier men’s soccer team battled against Trinity International University. The Cougars looked like they could pull out the upset early on in this game, but they gave up a two goal lead and eventually lost the game in heartbreaking fashion.
The game started out well for the Cougars as they would set the tone with an aggressive counterattack. This aggressive counterattack would prove fruitful for the Cougars as they would score a goal in the 15th minute off of the foot of forward Orlando Tapia to give the Cougars a 1-0 lead.
From there, the Cougars started to become defensive in order to attempt to preserve their lead. This allowed Trinity International to pepper them with shots for the majority of the first half. However, the Cougars would look like they were seemingly in control of the game after another goal by Tapia in the 34 minute put them up 2-0.
From there though, the wheels would start to fall off as the Cougars would go into a shell for the rest of the half. That would prove to be very costly as Trinity would score a goal in the 41st minute to cut their deficit to 2-1.
Just when it seemed as though the Cougars would go into the half up by one goal, Trinity International would score a last second goal at the end of the first half to send the game into halftime tied at 2-2.
Desperate to not let this game get away from them, the Cougars came out firing on all cylinders and giving all they had to take the lead back early in the second half. They would not be able to score though and from the 55 minute on, the game was completely dominated by Trinity International.
Like in the first half, Trinity peppered the Cougars with shot after shot after shot, displaying an unrelenting attack that should have resulted in more goals for them. However, the Cougars defense played admirably in the second half, blocking shots and not allowing TIU to get too many good looks.
Unfortunately, determination and grit would not be enough as the Cougars would let up a goal in the 88 minute and lose the game by the score of 3-2. Despite the tough loss, the Cougars would have to turn around quickly and take the positives out of this game in time for their “Homecoming” game on Saturday.
Saturday
On September 26, the Saint Xavier men’s soccer team would battle the undefeated Purdue University Calumet Pelegrines in their annual “Homecoming” game. The Cougars would play in a thrilling contest that would be decided in double overtime.
The start of the game did not bode well for the Cougars as Purdue-Calumet would start the game fast, peppering the Cougars with shots until they scored a goal off of a free kick in the 11th minute to take a 1-0 lead.
The Cougars would respond quickly to the adversity as midfielder Ricardo Aldape would score a goal in the 18 minute off of a breakaway to tie the game at 1-1. Using this momentum from the tying goal, the Cougars would score just minutes later to take a 2-1 lead in the 21st minute.
The goal came off the foot of forward Orlando Tapia on a free kick from 20 yards out. From there, the Cougars would continue to pepper the Pelegrines for at least the next five minutes after the second Saint Xavier goal.
They would not be able to score another goal in the first half and would go into halftime up 2-1. The second half would start with the Cougars once again going on the attack and being aggressive, a sign of them learning from the mistakes that they made in their game against TIU earlier in the week.
However, Purdue-Calumet’s counterattack would tie the game at 2-2 in the 62 minute. From there, the game would go back and forth with both teams getting a few opportunities in the second half.
The Cougars would get the final opportunity to score in regulation as forward Roger Ciszewski would have a prime opportunity to score in the 90 minute, but he would miss the shot just wide right of the net to send the game into overtime with a score of 2-2.
In the first overtime, the Cougars would once again have prime opportunities to end the game and send the home fans happy. However, they would not capitalize on these opportunities as either they would miss shots wide or the Purdue-Calumet goalie would make a great save to keep the game tied.
You did have to figure though that with all these opportunities that eventually they would be able to put one in the back of the net. This style of thinking would prove to be correct as the Cougars would score the game winning goal in the 106th minute off of a header by forward Marco Gutierrez.
With the mixed week, the Cougars’ record now stands at 4-4 with a conference record of 1-1. They will look to win another conference game when they take on St. Francis on September 30.
John Romando
Senior Sports Editor