Following a rough road loss on Wednesday, the McPherson College men’s soccer team needed to get a good win and did just that Saturday as they took down Ottawa University 4-0; OU is currently third in the KCAC, making the victory that much sweeter for the Bulldogs. MC sits at 7-8 on the year and are now tied for fourth in the conference at 4-3.
“Nice response from our men today,” said Coach Quint. “We did a lot of things well and it was pleasing to see the performance.”
McPherson had the Braves on their heels from the get-go, controlling possession and getting multiple chances early. The team finally got on the board in the ninth minute as Christopher Kelly struck a beautiful free kick from about 30 yards out. Though they took a handful of quality shots in the next 35+ minutes, Mac was held scoreless, heading into halftime up just 1-0.
Ottawa nearly had the equalizer in the opening minutes of the second half but a shot off the post kept the score at 1-0. McPherson changed the score line in the 56th minute as Nick Torres scored on a nice one-two combo from Jesus Pescador and Greg Roller. As the game closed out, Mac doubled their score in a matter of minutes; Torres slotted his second goal of the night then assisted on a Roller goal, putting the final at 4-0.
The ‘Dogs had 19 tries at goal with eight making it on target. Torres put up eight shots with five going on frame including his two goals. Kelly took four shots with 50% on goal; he had one midway through the second half that was all but across the line but he ended the game with just the one goal.
Aaron Parrott played well for Mac inside the pipes, and at times outside too. He ended the night with four saves in his third shutout of the season.
The Bulldogs travel to Bethany College on October 28th for an inter-county contest with the Swedes; start time is slated for 7:30 p.m. (CT)
