SAN ANTONIO, TX - The Trinity Men's Soccer team (3-2-3) and UC-Santa Cruz (1-3-3) played out an entertaining 3-3 draw on Friday evening at
Paul McGinlay Field. The Tigers fought back from a two-goal second-half deficit to earn a share of the points.
Trinity struck first in the 14th minute with a well-worked goal down the right.
Leo Jauregui (San Antonio, Texas / Johnson) picked up the ball out wide and drove at the Banana Slugs' full back. He played a one-two with
Gustav Moberg (Borås, Sweden / Sven Eriksonsgymnasiet) to get around his man, raced to the byline and cut the ball back for the crashing
Milo Williams (Austin, Texas / University of Texas HS), who placed his finish into the bottom left corner for the first goal of his Trinity career, giving the Tigers a 1-0 lead.
From there, the Tigers struggled to find the rhythm that carried them through last weekend's wins, and UC Santa Cruz made them pay on the counter. Herrera leveled the match in the 25th minute from a move started by Groessl and Ziazadeh. Dellinger then put the visitors ahead in the 32nd minute, again set up by Groessl, and UCSC took a 2-1 lead into the break.
The second half began much as the first had ended. UC Santa Cruz extended its lead in the 61st minute when Williams finished off a Dellinger ball to make it 3-1. The third goal sparked Trinity into life, and the Tigers began to play with a new intensity.Â
Less than three minutes later,
Luke Mayfield (Dallas, Texas / JJ Pearce) whipped a dangerous cross in from the right wing. Though momentarily cleared to the edge of the box,
Finnegan Saunders (Albuquerque, New Mexico / Sandia Prep) reacted fastest to direct the ball back into the danger zone. After
Hodge MacDonald (Hertford, England / Haileybury) set up the chance inside the area,
Joey Perryman (Flower Mound, Texas / Flower Mound) pounced on a loose ball and unleashed a low strike into the bottom left corner, slicing the deficit to 3-2 and reigniting the home crowd.
Surging with momentum, less than ten minutes later, Trinity orchestrated a stunning team move to complete the comeback. Perryman cut inside from the left flank and slipped a precision pass behind the defense for the blistering run of Mayfield. Without flinching, Mayfield fired a first-time hard low ball across the six-yard box that forced a UCSC defender into an own goal in the 72nd minute, locking the match at 3-3.
The final 20 minutes belonged to Trinity. The Tigers pinned the visitors back and came close on a couple of occasions, including a MacDonald effort that forced a save from Jacobson-Bell in the 78th minute. However, the winner never came, and the final whistle sounded on a 3-3 draw.
UC Santa Cruz held the edge in total shots, 12-9. The sides were level in shots on goal (5-5) and corner kicks (1-1). Jacobson-Bell made three saves for the Banana Slugs, while
Jayden Schell (Dallas, Texas / Plano) made two stops in 90 minutes for the Tigers.
Up Next
The Trinity Men's Soccer team remains at home as they face off against local Texan rivals Concordia University on Sunday, September 27th at 6:00 p.m.
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