Men's Soccer Outlasts Lincoln Memorial
MARS HILL, N.C. – The Mars Hill men’s soccer team jumped out to a 3-0 lead and held off a furious rally from Lincoln Memorial in the late stages of the match to capture a pivotal 3-2 win over the Railsplitters in South Atlantic Conference action on Wednesday, October 19.
MARS HILL, N.C. – The Mars Hill men's soccer team jumped out to a 3-0 lead and held off a furious rally from Lincoln Memorial in the late stages of the match to capture a pivotal 3-2 win over the Railsplitters in South Atlantic Conference action on Wednesday, October 19. The Lions improved to 6-8 overall and 4-5 in the conference, while LMU dropped to 8-5 overall and 4-4 in the league.
Stian Sanner put the Lions on the board in just the sixth minute of play, taking the ball from a LMU player and blasting the rock past the keeper. The Lions continued the pressure following a corner kick. Ian Wu sent in a beautiful ball but Oscar Mitchell's header banged off the far post and ricocheted away.
Kristopher Wennin did his part in goal for the Lions, collecting several spectacular saves to help Mars Hill carry the 1-0 lead into halftime.
Wu gave the Lions a 2-0 lead minutes into the second half, earning a free kick from the 45 and sneaking it past the goalie in an improbable manner. Just a few ticks later Sanner added his second goal of the contest, receiving a pass into the box from Oscar Mitchell.
Lincoln Memorial made things interesting in the 78th minute after Victor Peres found the back of the net to cut the deficit to 2-1 and George Burne added a second score moments later to narrow the gap to a single goal with just over eight minutes to play in regulation.
The Railsplitters had a golden opportunity to knot the match, but Wennin came up huge once more, deflecting the potential game-tying goal off the crossbar and out of harm's way. Mars Hill maintained the lead and ran the clock out the rest of the way to secure the 3-2 victory.
Sanner paced the offensive with a two goals on his five shot attempts, while Wu added the other goal on his only shot. Wennin played a marvelous 90 minutes in goal, collecting 10 saves to help secure the win, while improving his record to 5-4 on the season. Lincoln Memorial's Danilo de Silva led all players with eight shot attempts.
The Lions will return to action on Saturday, October 22 as they play their final home game of the season against Newberry. Kickoff is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.