ANGOLA, Ind. – The Trine University men's soccer team secured a senior day victory over Alma College 2-1 on Saturday with a late goal in the second half. The senior class of Aidan McGonagle, Tyler Murphy, Alhasan Yahya, Francesco Mazzei, Alhusain Yahya, Abraham Antar and Joey Donovan were honored post-match for their accomplishments on the pitch and in the classroom.
The win is the fourth in a row for the team as they are now 6-5-3 overall and 4-1-1 in conference play. Alma falls to 4-10-2 and 1-5-0. The Thunder can clinch the number two seed in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) standings and a first round bye in the conference tournament with an outright win in their next match at Adrian College on Wednesday, October 25 at 7 p.m. and are currently still in contention to win the conference should Calvin University lose in each of their final two matches.
Trine was dominant in the first half offensively with a 14-2 shot differential. The Scots goalkeeper was tested early and often, but was up to the task with three tremendous saves in the sixth and eighth minutes. Sophomore Ryan Cote was responsible for two of the shots on goal, both coming off of corner kicks.
After missing out on a few attempts that were on frame, the Thunder continued to pressure the Alma defense, but they were missing wide due to trying to find a gap. Mazzei in the 21st minute had an attempt that just missed the top of the frame and went out of play.
Trine struck for their first score of the afternoon just before the break. Freshman Evan Komrska distributed a picture-perfect pass to the senior Murphy, who brought the ball to his dominant left foot and delivered a strike to the corner of the net to go up 1-0 in the 37th minute. That score would remain as the teams left the field for halftime.
Sophomore Liam Zimmerman hit the far upright on a shot attempt coming out of halftime before the Scots would go on a run themselves to tie the match. Freshman Dillon Lambert made all three saves in the match in the 53rd, 66th and 67th minutes, and an excellent header play by Alma made it 1-1 in the 70th minute of action.
Forced to go back on the offensive to avoid the draw, the Thunder pushed feverishly to break the tie. Junior Luke Kearns was able to do so in the 87th minute after he recovered a loose ball, dribbled passed a defender, and found a hole to score just inside the box. Alma was unable to match as Trine survived the scare by the opposition.
In total, the shot chart favored the Thunder 18-8, with Murphy leading the charge with four attempts. He and Cote were the only ones with multiple shots on goal in the game. Lambert (4-2-1) got the win in net after 90 minutes of play and made three second half saves.
