Columbia, MO – For the second straight game the men's soccer team competed against a 2019 NAIA postseason team. Columbia College made it to the semifinal round a season ago proving to be one of UC's top opponents this year.
The opening half saw much more offense from the Patriots then they had in their opening contest on Saturday, with five shots. Three of the shots came from
Milan Stojanovic who was active on the offensive end. His best opportunity to score came in the 34
th minute where he sent a ball into the corner, but the Columbia goalkeeper came up with the save.
The UC defense kept the Cougar offense at bay most of the first half limiting them to zero shots on goal through 35 minutes. But then a costly foul gave Columbia a free kick just outside of the box. The Cougars converted finding their leading goal scorer to go into halftime up 1-0.
Cumberlands came out of the second half strong with three shots in the first three minutes. However, a few minutes later UC would have to revamp their game plan since they went down to ten men due to a hard challenge that resulted in a red card.
Despite going down a player, UC held possession for a majority of the half. Looking for the equalizer, the Patriots made a dangerous run in the 73
rd minute. Columbia committed a foul to the left of their own goal box, setting up
Joel Drewery for the free kick.
Drewery took advantage of the opportunity sending a ball into the middle of the six-yard box meeting the chest of
Sergio Infantes Castell who was able to push the ball into the back of the net. The equalizer is the first goal of the season for UC.
After the goal, Columbia College looked to spread the field out more and utilize their one-man advantage. Not even four minutes later Columbia had a shot blocked but they crowded and kicked the ball in to go up 2-1.
UC had only one more shot in the remaining ten minutes of play to lose their second straight contest. Columbia College improves to 8-2 while Cumberlands is now 0-2.
The Patriots will be back in action this Saturday when the take on Dalton State College at 6:30 PM in Dalton, GA. The livestream can be found
here and the live stats can be found
here.
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