by Rosie Sinapi
Sports Editor
The ULV men’s soccer team settled for a 2-2 tie in double overtime Tuesday night against Concordia University.
In front of the home crowd, the Leos scored only once in regulation play, off of Jimmy Riday’s goal assisted by junior mid-blocker Juan Contreras. They managed to play a strong defensive game holding Concordia also to only one goal in regulation play scored by Concordia’s Dane Agnoletto.
Another strong force on the team was sophomore goalie Matt Robles. Robles had nine saves for the game.
“It was a big improvement from Saturday,” said Robles.
Concordia’s goalie Matthew Beliveau had four saves for the game.
Concordia’s Joel Dietrich kicked with the ball missing the goal, but deflected into the net by Robles.
In the second overtime, the Leos came back scoring off of Juan Contreras assisted by Greg Tiddle.
“I think we did better than we thought,” said Tiddle.
Although the Leos came close to scoring when the ball missed the net by inches with two minutes left, both teams failed to score again in the second overtime.
The Leos opened their season last weekend against Biola. The team lost the match 4-1. With a tie and a loss to their record, the Leos travel to San Antonio this weekend to play Trinity University. Head Coach Owen Wright realizes it will be a hard tournament, but is relying on the team effort shown on Tuesday to pull the team through.
“I thought we played well. It was difficult coming back,” said Wright.
Likewise the players are using their experience in pre-conference play to improve their league record.
“I think it’ll be a learning experience this weekend. The more we play and gel, the better we’ll be,” said sophomore Darin Soliday.
Robles also feels this weekend will be essential no matter what the outcome is.
“I think the games we are playing now are learning games. We need to be as good a team as we can be to compete with the best,” said Robles.
