Duluth, MN. - The Saints completed a Friday afternoon match today against Wartburg College. The Knights were able to take the win 4-1, despite a beautiful goal by Vinny Pearcy (Oakdale MN/Hill-Murray) in the second half.
How it Happened
1st Half
The Saints kicked off against the Knights with high energy, off the hop, the Knights took control of the ball and they took a shot just 48 seconds into the game, dinging off the post.
The pace of play remained relatively mellow for the opening 20 minutes. The Knights were still pushing to be the first to score, between 6:39 and 11:51, WC had four shots.
At 13:06, the Knights scored the opening goal of the game.
Wartburg continued to hold possession of the ball, despite undeniable effort from the Saints. The Knights tallied four more shots in two minutes. But the Blue and Gold were quick to turn around and take back to back shots by Gabriel Marchesoni (Surrey, BC, CA) and Arturo Salgado-Trejo (Richfield, Minn./Richfield HS). Minutes later, Ayub Mohamed (Lewiston ME/Park High School) made two solid attempts to put the ball on target, these shots were denied by the defenders.
The Saints made multiple efforts to score, shooting just over the crossbar on two occasions.
The first half wrapped up with a 1-0 lead for the Knights.
2nd Half
The opening minutes of the second half were chippy, resulting in a Saints yellow card. It wasn't long after that goalkeeper Ben Hallberg (Princeton, Minn./Princeton HS) faced a shot head on.
With the Saints grinding to get on the board, they faced several situations where they were caught in the defensive 18-yard box, defending best they could. The efforts of the Saints resulted in a lucky penalty kick and goal for the Knights. Wartburg led 2-0 at 57:09.
The next 20 minutes of play remained at a standstill, consisting of mostly neutral zone play and a couple shot attempts by the Knights.
At 76:22, the Knights scored their 3rd goal of the game. And just 15 seconds later, they found the back of the net again with a fluke goal. Knights led 4-0.
But the Saints were not going to allow the shutout… as Vinny Pearcy (Oakdale MN/Hill-Murray) scored off a corner kick from Said Mohammed (Rochester, MN) at 83:09.
The clock wound down and the Knights took the win 4-1.
Up Next
Join the Saints again next weekend for an afternoon game on Saturday, September 21 at 3:30 p.m. at Kenny Harkins Field. The Blue and Gold will kickoff against Bethel University following the Women's game.
