AUSTIN, Texas – St. Edward's men's soccer scored its first two goals of the season, including an equalizer with less than five minutes remaining to earn a draw against the St. Thomas Celts.
St. Edward's opened with aggressive pressure in the opening two minutes from
JOAQUIN MAUD, who jumped the passing lane on a bad back-pass in St. Thomas's defensive third. Maud secured possession and made a quick cross to an open
JOMMAR REYES, whose shot hit the left post with the ricochet moving just past his leg on the follow.
BARTEK ZABEK tracked down the ball and found
SHUNJI WATANABE open on the right side, but his attempt went wide into the side of the net.
St. Thomas struck first on an impressive feed from Ian Alvarez on a cross to Daniel Castro, who outleapt the Hilltopper defender for a header that dropped in just over the outstretched arms of St. Edward's keeper Kellen Guillion.
St. Edward's responded with less than 10 minutes remaining in the half when
HUNTER MERRITT perfectly led
CARLOS HUATOs in front of the net for a sprinting one-touch goal to tie the game.
The Celts made a push in the last two minutes of the half, but Gullion stopped both shots on goal to go into the break tied. Gullion was solid with eight saves for the match, recording four in each half.
Castro helped St. Thomas retake the lead at the 70-minute mark with a nice spin from the middle of the box, finding Italo Rodriguez on the left side. Rodriguez split a gap between two defenders and delivered a shot past Guillion into the right side of the goal for the 2-1 lead.
St. Thomas controlled possession for a good portion of the next ten minutes, generating three shots and a corner kick while keeping the Hilltoppers away from sustained possession. The game also turned chippy with five yellow cards and a late red card over the last 20 minutes.
The Hilltoppers made a final push with late substitutions at the 84-minute mark. Merritt,
JETHRO VOURJOLO, Watanabe, and
DONOVAN EERKES-MCCARTHY entered the game and immediately provided energy. Vourjolo immediately created an opportunity, generating a shot less than a minute into his final stint, sending the ball sailing high.
A few minutes later, the Hilltoppers caught St. Thomas on a risky back-pass again when Vourjolo's pace caught the Celts off-guard. This time, the Hilltoppers capitalized. Vourjolo ran through an attempted foul with the St. Thomas defender hanging on his shirt, playing the advantage past the St. Thomas keeper for an empty-net equalizer.
Both teams put a shot on goal in a chaotic final three minutes that featured three cards and multiple free kicks but no goals.
St. Edward's record goes to 0-3-1, while St. Thomas sits at 4-0-1. On Wednesday, the Hilltoppers will travel to Laredo, Texas, to play Texas A&M International at 7 p.m.
