GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – In Wednesday night's Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) opener, the Trine University men's soccer team was defeated by the 11th ranked team in NCAA DIII, Calvin University, by a score of 4-1.
The loss puts the Thunder at a record of 5-4-1 overall and 0-1 in conference play. The Knights get off on the right foot in league action at 1-0 and 9-1-2 in total this season.
Calvin was able to get through the teeth of the Trine defense in the early goings and fired a pair of shots in the first five minutes at the keeper Aidan McGonagle. The first went off the left post, but the second was true for the Knights to go up 1-0.
Jarick Aguilar and Luke Kearns each took attempts for the Thunder, but to no avail. Calvin was able to extend their lead in the 37th minute to take a 2-0 lead into the break. New entrant from the bench Evan Komrska fired a shot on goal before half's end, but the zero remained for the time being.
On the draw coming out of half, the Knights made it 3-0 with a goal just after the whistle. From there, Trine was forced to go on the attack and finally broke through in the 74th minute.
Alhusain Yahya played the ball in the box to Abraham Antar, who fired a laser over the top of the Calvin keeper to cut into the deficit. Unfortunately, a penalty kick score for the Knights in the 76th minute got the result to 4-1 at the end of 90 minutes.
In total, the Thunder were outshot 13-11 and had the disadvantage on corner kicks 7-5. Kearns was the team leader with three shot attempts.
Trine will look for their first win of the conference slate on Saturday, October 8 when they play host to Kalamazoo College on Weaver Field beginning at 1 pm.
