SAN ANTONIO – Trinity's 23rd-ranked men's soccer team scored twice in the final 2:37 to pull off a thrilling 3-2 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference win over Texas Lutheran University on Friday night.
The Tigers (9-0-2) have now won nine consecutive games with tonight's victory, which is the fourth win in the last five meetings between the two teams. Overall, Trinity is now 36-7-1 in the series.
Trinity led 1-0 at the half, but Texas Lutheran scored twice in the second half to take the lead – the second of which came with just over 16 minutes left in the game. The Tigers equalized on a goal
Will Powell (London, England / Beth's Grammar School) netted his first goal of the season with just 2:37 remaining in the game to knot the score at 2-2. That goal energized the entire Tiger team, which was determined not to settle for a draw.
Luke Chandler (Glasgow, Scotland / Balfron) finished off the comeback with his second game-winner of the year, scoring with just 41 seconds left to secure all three points for the Tigers.
Louis Instrall (London, England / Hampton School) got the scoring started in the 33rd minute on assists from
Luke Mayfield (Dallas, Texas / JJ Pearce) and
Jason Sukow (Jacksonville Beach, Fla. / Reagan). The goal came after an extended possession by the Tigers on the right side of the attack. The final sequence came as Sukow slipped a pass in to Mayfield near the touch line, who cut it back across the face of the goal.
Alex Ramirez (Houston, Texas / Humble) picks up an unofficial assist as he drew in a defender but jumped over the ball to let it go through. That's where Instrall was waiting for a powerful strike to put Trinity up 1-0.
Trinity held a 6-3 edge in first-half shots, which included three on-target attempts, and another shot off the crossbar. Despite the deficit, Texas Lutheran put the pressure on in the second half, picking up two shots on goal in the first 10-plus minutes, then tying the game in the 61st minute with a diving header.
Just minutes later, Trinity was nearly back in front as
JonConnor Rule (San Antonio, Texas / Johnson) came forward on a corner and had a free header on the back post that was saved. Texas Lutheran earned a free kick a few minutes after, which led to a corner kick as goalkeeper
Omkar Satpathy (Pleasanton, Calif. / Amador Valley) came up with a big save. The ensuing corner rattled around in the box and the Bulldogs were able to convert it for the go-ahead score with 16:03 remaining.
Trinity went into full attack mode after that, seeking any opportunity they could to salvage at least a point. Minutes later they did just that as
Adam Knutson (Dripping Springs, Texas / Dripping Springs) swung the ball wide to Sukow, who whipped in a superbly measured cross. Powell leaped into the air, redirecting the ball over the TLU keeper and into the back of the net to bring the Tigers back level.
The Trinity barrage continued over the final two minutes, but the Bulldogs defended well to keep the Tigers from going ahead. Satpathy sent a long ball up into the Texas Lutheran box with 50 seconds to go, and as the Bulldogs couldn't clear their lines the Tigers pounced. The ball fell to
Samuel Theiss (Boerne, Texas / Boerne), who flicked it on to Chandler to rifle the ball into the roof of the net to send the Tigers back into the lead.
Up Next
Trinity will close out its home weekend of SCAC play by hosting Southwestern University (TX) on Sunday at 12:00 p.m.
