Box Score ATLANTA – The No. 6 nationally ranked Trinity Men's Soccer Team opened Southern Athletic Association play with a hard-fought 2-1 road win over the Oglethorpe University Stormy Petrels on Friday evening.
 
The Rundown
The Tigers dominated much of the first half, peppering the Stormy Petrels with nine shots, but they were denied repeatedly by the Oglethorpe goalkeeper, who tallied six first-half saves. Despite Trinity's total control of possession, the two sides went into halftime deadlocked at 0-0.

The breakthrough came just three minutes into the second half, when Adam Knutson (Dripping Springs, Texas / Dripping Springs) won a clever foul inside the penalty area to hand the Tigers a golden chance to take the lead. Designated penalty taker Samuel Theiss (Boerne, Texas / Boerne) stepped up and aimed for the bottom right corner, only to see his effort saved brilliantly by the keeper. Fortunately, the rebound fell kindly back to Theiss, who made no mistake on the second attempt, smashing it home for a 1-0 lead. The Tigers pressed hard for a second, but Oglethorpe hung tight and, against the run of play, struck back in the 81st minute, capitalizing on a loose ball in the box to level the score.

The match looked destined for a tense finish, but Trinity's persistence paid off late. In the 87th minute, sophomore center back Daniel Urquidi (Round Rock, Texas / Round Rock) found himself in a forward position and drew a free-kick in a dangerous spot on the edge of the box. Up stepped fellow sophomore Julian Lopez (Austin, Texas / St. Stephen's Episcopal) who curled a delicious in-swinging cross into the box that flew straight through a crowd of players, wrong footed the goalkeeper, and landed in the back of the net. This sparked jubilant scenes on the sideline and on the pitch as relief descended over the entire Trinity squad. 

Trinity outshot Oglethorpe 17-7 and piled up 17 corner kicks, showing just how deserving of a victory they were. This win stamps the Tigers' mark on the SAA and pushed them to 8-1-0 for the season.

Up Next
The No. 6 nationally ranked Trinity Men's Soccer Team (8-1-0) travel up the road to Mount Berry, GA to take on fellow SAA competitors the Berry College Vikings on Sunday, October 5 at 11:00 am (ET).