Kissimmee, FL – Central Christian Men's Soccer Program was playing in their 1
st NCCAA National Tournament since becoming a 4-year college in 1999.
Central would have a challenge ahead of them as they would take on the Grace Lancers of Indiana who came into the NCCAA tournament as the #2 seed in the tournament while the Tigers would come in as the #8 seed.
The Lancers would be the first to draw blood in the 29
th minute to pull ahead for the first lead of the game. Tigers would be outshoot in the 1
st half 10 - 1, but would hold the score to only a 1 score deficit thanks to 6 saves by goal keeper Sabastian Herrera.
The Tigers would come out the half with a chip on their shoulder and
Drew Schrader would find
Matias Nunez who would play a beautiful ball in the back of the net and tie the game within the first two minutes of the 2
nd half. Unfortunately for the Tigers they wouldn't be able to maintain the tie for too long, and would score an own goal to give the Lacers a 2-1 advantage. They would be able to keep the game scoreless for the next 20 minutes, but in the 75
th minute Lacers would add an insurance goal followed by another goal a few moments later to put them out of reach.
The Tigers would have a relatively silent night only having 5 shots and 3 SOG for the performance.
Aaron Hoxie, Men's Soccer Coach said this on the performance:
"Excellent opponent that Grace. Well coached. We knew we were up against it from the onset but we knew we could cause them problems going forward. I thought the kids executed the game plan, which sounds weird in a 3 goal loss, I know."
"Their first goal was a mistake by our freshman back line. The second goal was an own goal. Silly, but that was the back breaker as we had just equalized wonderfully. Their third and fourth goals were a thing of beauty. It took that to unlock us."
"Proud of the guys. They competed and played their hearts out. We tried to attack and be brave going forward, and I'm proud of that as well."
The Tigers will be playing the 2
nd round of the pool play tomorrow when they take on #5 seed Carolina University.
Go Tigers!
#Ambush
