Marietta, GA – Marvin van der Made tallied his second hat trick of the season to propel University of the Cumberlands men's soccer to a 5-4 come-from-behind victory over Life University in Mid-South Conference play on Tuesday night at Lupo Family Field.
Cumberlands (7-3-2, 4-1-0 MSC) fell behind Life (5-9-1, 1-3-0 MSC) 3-2 in a back-and-forth first half of play. The Running Eagles applied pressure on the Patriot defense early on with three corner kicks in the first seven minutes of the match. The pressure paid off for Life when Cumberlands was called for a foul in their own 18-yard box. Martin Cortes scored the ensuing penalty kick in the eighth minute. The Patriots' deficit doubled in the 26' minute when Life's Javi Romero fired a shot from outside the top of the 18-yard box that found the upper-left corner of the net. Sergio Sereeira assisted on the play. However, Cumberlands answered back 21 seconds later with a goal of its own to make the score 2-1 in the 27' minute. A Patriot took a shot that was saved, but the goalkeeper was unable to control the ball and
Alejandro Gonzalez knocked in the rebound for his seventh goal of the season. Life and Cumberlands then traded goals to finish out the first half. Wessley Soronellas took a pass from Romero, dribbled down the left side and scored on a low shot in the 38' minute to extend the Running Eagles' lead to 3-1. Van der Made took a pass from
Sergio Infantes and answered for the Patriots on a well-placed low shot in the 42' minute to pull Cumberlands within one with the score 3-2.
In the second half, Cumberlands would outscore Life 3-1 to secure the 5-4 win.
Joel Caldwell scored for the Patriots in the 49' minute when he beat the Running Eagles' goalkeeper to a the ball in front of the net and kicked it in to tied the score at 3-3. Van der Made assisted on the play. After Steinar Magnusson scored Life's final goal of the match on a shot from outside the top of the 18-yard box that put Cumberlands down 4-3 in the 51' minute with Thierry Jules assisting on the play, van der Made would score the final two goals of the match to complete the comeback victory for the Patriots and record the hat trick. In the 62' minute, Infantes dribbled the ball forward into the right side of the 18-yard box where the goalkeeper came out to try and stop him. Infantes made a move and slid the ball over to van der Made, who finished into an empty net. Van der Made's game-winning goal came in the 80' minute when he took a pass from
Filip Milivojevic, got into the 18-yard box, and fired a shot that went in just under the crossbar. The defense would do the rest as Cumberlands held on for the 5-4 win.
With 12 goals on the season, van der Made is the first Patriot to tally double digits in goals in a season since 2015 when Jack Cousin (14 goals), Cam Philpot (13) and Alfred Lundholm (12) each accomplished the feat.
Goalkeeper
Clement May (6-3-2) made a season-high 10 saves for Cumberlands, while Fabian Pekruhl stopped five shots for Life.
The Patriots return home for an MSC match against Campbellsville University at 3 p.m. on Saturday, October 20 at the UC Lacrosse/Soccer Complex.
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