CINCINNATI, Ohio - Your Mount St. Joseph Lions Men's soccer squad welcomed the Tigers of Wittenberg to Schueler Field Wednesday night for a non-conference clash. The Lions defense prevailed for a majority of the game and was lead by Junior goalkeeper
Gustavo Gutierrez (Montclair, Cali./Boone Co.). After falling down 2-0 to a pair of impressive Tiger goals the Lions were able to get one back but were unable to equalize in the final minutes showing a final score of 2-1.
To start play the Tigers flooded the net with shots. Within the first 21 minutes of play the Tigers totaled 7 of their 8 shots in the half while Gutierrez made 3 saves holding back the aggressive Tiger attack. Soon the Lions began to create their own opportunities. In the 23rd minute of play Sophomore
Joseph Stark (Westville, Ind./Chesterton) let a shot rip from roughly 25 yards out to the bottom left hand corner of the net but the Tigers' keeper made a diving stop to keep the clean sheet alive.
The Lions would again find themselves in prime scoring range in the 32nd minute of play when Sophomore
Michael Abel (Cincinnati, Ohio/Elder) was fighting off a defender and evaded the goalkeeper but got tangled up with the defender and the ball rolled out of bounds. The referee signaled for a goal kick as no foul was given, leaving the Lions' fans in frustration. After 45 minutes of play each team had been held off the scoreboard reading a 0-0 scoreline while each team had a player who received a yellow card.
To begin the 2nd half of play each squad came out firing with each team having 4 shots in the first 15 minutes of play. In the 52nd minute of play Lions' keeper
Gustavo Gutierrez flexed his muscles with a pair of impressive saves against the stout Tiger offense allowing the Lions to get going offensively. In the 67th minute of play
Michael Abel nearly got the Lions on the scoreboard with a shot to the bottom right corner but missed the net by a matter of inches. Following Abel's attempt Freshman
Taidan Fox (Cincinnati, Ohio/Oak Hills) drove a shot to the top right corner of the net but was saved by the Tigers keeper again.
The Lions continued to battle defensively but the Tigers would finally break through in the 70th minute of play sneaking a hard driven ball underneath the Lions' keeper into the bottom right hand corner of the net to give them a 1-0 lead. Shortly after the goal the Tigers would again find themselves in a scoring position and this time it was one-on-one with the keeper. The Tigers forward was able to drive the ball past Gutierrez's outstretched arm to give the Tigers a commanding 2-0 lead in the 73rd minute.
But, the Lions were refusing to go down without a fight. Just 4 minutes after the Tigers second goal the Lions would surge down the field. After a terrific shot from Senior Captain
Joshua Bailey (Winchester, Ky./George Rogers Clark)
Michael Abel was able to clean it up and pound the ball into the bottom right hand corner of the net cutting the Tiger's lead in half.
Following the goal the Lions would receive a red card from a second yellow card foul leaving them a man down with 10 minutes remaining in the half. But, the Lions wouldn't stop flooding the net with shots and in the 85th minute of play off a long throw in Freshman
Willis Johnson (Cincinnati, Ohio/LaSalle) volleyed the ball to the bottom right hand corner of the goal but ricocheted off the pole. In the final minutes of play the Lions were unable to find the net and falling to the Tigers of Wittenberg 2-1. Lions Goalkeeper
Gustavo Gutierrez finished the game with 6 saves and was terrific for the Lions all night long.
UP NEXT: Your Mount St. Joseph Lions host the Eagles of Midway University this Saturday, September 11th. Kickoff is set to begin at 7pm. Continue to tune into msjlions.com for further coverage of your MSJ Men's Soccer squad and all MSJ Athletics!
