The Goshen College Maple Leafs soccer teams were in full swing on Saturday night when they squared off with conference rival Grace College. Both teams fell to the Lancers in close contest, the men’s team losing 2-0 and the women’s 2-1. 

The men’s soccer team traveled to Winona Lake for a highly anticipated match against former coach Arron Patrick. The Lancers and Maple Leafs played a scoreless first 25 minutes of the contest in which the Maple Leafs had a plethora of opportunities deep in Lancer territory, none of which they converted. 

Lancers forward Marcelo Talamas was able to put points on the board first. Talamas sent a chip shot over the head of goalkeeper Tomas Fonseca in the 29th minute. 

Four minutes later Talamas and the Lancers struck again to jump to a 2-0 halftime lead. However, this score wasn’t reflected in the shot column– the Maple Leafs had seven shots on the Lancers’ five in the first half.

In the second half, the Maple Leafs would again out-shoot the Lancers, but with no success. The team’s best efforts came in the 87th minute, off of the boot of Ollie Smith, rocketing a shot that struck the crossbar. 

The Lancers held strong in the end, with a score of 2-0. Looking at further statistics, the final box score pointed towards the Maple Leafs who outshot Grace 18 to 11 and had five more corner kick attempts.

From the John Ingold Athletic Complex, the Goshen College women’s soccer team was in action against 17th-ranked Grace College women. 

Coming into the match, the women’s soccer team was riding a five-game winning streak, looking to make it six with a win. Grace had only suffered one defeat at that point in the season, against third-ranking Southeastern. 

Goals were scored early in this matchup. The Lancers jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 6th minute after Lea Moessinger’s shot was rebounded by JJ Aalbue.

Just five minutes later in the 11th minute, Goshen earned a corner. The ball was played into the box by Beatriz Meneghin, a junior, to Areanna Holified, a sophomore. Holifield out-jumped her opponents to head the ball into the back of the net and leveled the score, keeping the Maple Leafs in the game. The goal marked Holifield’s first of the season.

The first half was dominated by the Lancers in shots, out shooting the Maple Leafs 10-1. However, the score was even at one a piece headed into the 15-minute intermission. 

The second half was more closely contested in terms of shots, the Lancers would take 12 while the Maple Leafs attempted six. The second half remained scoreless all the way up until the Lancers and their persistent offense would finally break through in the 74th minute off of a score by Sacia Hanson. 

That late goal would be all that the Lancers would need to hold off the upset-minded Maple Leafs. Lancer 2, Maple Leafs 1. 

Both teams resume action on Saturday. The men’s team will host Marian University at home for a 1 p.m. start time during Homecoming Weekend. The women’s team is set for an early kick-off as well at 12 p.m., as they also travel to Marian to take on the Knights who are currently ranked 15th.