SAN ANTONIO, TX - Trinity University Men's Soccer (9-2-5) extended its unbeaten run to thirteen matches on Saturday afternoon, beating Rhodes (8-2-5) 2-0 at Saint Mary's Hall to hand the Lynx their first conference loss of the season.
The match, originally scheduled for Friday night at
Paul McGinlay Field, was pushed back to Saturday at 1:30 p.m. and moved across town to Saint Mary's Hall after torrential rain swept through San Antonio. The change of day and venue did little to unsettle the Tigers, who took control from the opening whistle against a Rhodes side that arrived unbeaten in SAA play, unbeaten on the road and riding a six-game unbeaten streak.
Trinity dominated possession early and kept the Lynx pinned back, but clear-cut chances were hard to come by.
Hodge MacDonald (Hertford, England / Haileybury) tested Rhodes goalkeeper Kettner inside the first two minutes, and efforts from
Luke Mayfield (Dallas, Texas / JJ Pearce) and
Alex Baltov (Shreveport, Louisiana / Carson Parish Magnet) soon followed, but Kettner dealt with each of them comfortably.
The breakthrough came in the 26th minute. A Trinity corner wasn't fully cleared, and the loose ball worked its way back out to the right, where
Joey Perryman (Flower Mound, Texas / Flower Mound) picked it up. Perryman played a quick one-two with
Cade Dougan (Austin, Texas / St. Stephen's Episcopal), who slipped him in behind the Rhodes back line and into the box. Perryman looked up and curled a perfectly placed, inviting ball across the face of goal to the back post, where Mayfield, still forward from the set piece, simply had to direct it home from a yard out.
Trinity carried a deserved 1-0 lead into the break, having outshot Rhodes 6-1 and forced four saves from Kettner, while
Jayden Schell (Dallas, Texas / Plano) had yet to be called into action at the other end.
Rhodes came out of halftime desperate for an equalizer and went far more direct in search of one, but the Lynx never quite got a grip on the game. When they did find a sight of goal, Schell came up big, getting down to keep out Stephens' low effort in the 55th minute. Otherwise, Trinity's back line held firm, limiting Rhodes' leading scorer Grant to a single shot off target, and the Tigers controlled the half much as they had the first.
With the Lynx pushing numbers forward, Trinity knew a second goal would kill the game off, and it arrived in the 76th minute.
Jeremy Siau (Granite Bay, California / Granite Bay) received the ball in his own half and played a delicious curling ball down the line in behind for the chasing
Milo Williams (Austin, Texas / University of Texas HS). The Rhodes centre-back misjudged its flight, and Williams latched onto it, took one touch with his knee into the box, and, with the ball still bouncing, delicately lofted a pass into the center of the area. There,
Eduardo Parra (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma / Casady School), introduced just over ten minutes earlier, was completely unmarked and headed into the bottom left-hand corner. It was Parra's team-leading 10th goal of the season and extended his scoring streak to five straight matches.
From there, Trinity saw the game out with little trouble. Perryman nearly added a third with two late efforts, and Rhodes didn't register another shot on target.
Trinity finished with a 10-3 edge in shots, 6-1 in shots on goal and 6-0 in corners. Schell made one save to earn the shutout, Trinity's fifth clean sheet in its last seven matches, and the Tigers have now won 20 of 26 all-time meetings with Rhodes, staying unbeaten against the Lynx since 2001.
Up Next
Trinity closes out the regular season on Sunday, November 1st, at 1:30 p.m. against Millsaps College at
Paul McGinlay Field, looking to extend its unbeaten run to 14. The Tigers have not lost to the Majors since the programs first met in 1991 and won last season's meeting 3-1.
