San Antonio, TX - The No. 5 nationally ranked Trinity Men's Soccer team (7-1-0) redeemed themselves after last week's loss as they defeated the UC-Santa Cruz Banana Slugs 2-1 at Paul McGinlay Field.
 
The Rundown

It was the visitors who struck first, silencing the home crowd in the 4th minute. The Banana Slugs capitalized on a slow start for the Tigers and opened the scoring, after their forward was played in behind and calmly slotted it away.

Trinity weathered the storm and began to tilt momentum in its favor, piling on pressure with seven first-half shots. Just before halftime, the Tigers found their equalizer. In the 45th minute, the tigers won a free kick on the edge of the box and up stepped Alex Baltov (Shreveport, Louisiana / Carson Parish Magnet) who without hesitation curled the ball up and over the wall and into the top left hand corner to score what could be one of the best free kicks Paul McGinley field has ever seen, crucially pulling the Tigers level at 1-1 right before the break.

The second half was all Trinity. The Tigers controlled possession and outshot the Slugs 12-0 after halftime. The breakthrough finally arrived in the 76th minute when senior captain Adam Knutson (Dripping Springs, Texas / Dripping Springs) pounced on the ball in the box and smashed it home after a free kick was whipped in and a header from Daniel Urquidi (Round Rock, Texas / Round Rock) get deflected into his path.

From there, the Tigers' back line and goalkeeper tandem of Brandon Gongora (San Antonio, Texas / Madison) and Luis Yunta (Madrid, Spain / Vermont Academy (Vt.)) held firm. Trinity limited UC Santa Cruz to just five total shots on the night and none in the second half, closing out a 2-1 victory.

Knutson's decisive strike and Baltov's first-half wonder goal highlighted a resilient display, as Trinity improved to 7-1-0 on the season.

Up Next

The No. 5 nationally ranked Trinity Men's soccer team open up conference play as they make the trip to Atlanta, GA to first matchup against Oglethorpe University on Friday, October 3rd at 7:00 p.m. (ET) and then face off against Berry College on Sunday, October 5th at 11:00 a.m. (ET).