Mandi Mooney
Online Managing Editor
September 10, 2004
The Milligan College men’s soccer team, ranked No. 35 in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, split its matches in the tournament held last weekend at Milligan’s Anglin Field, defeating No. 29 Houghton College (N.Y.) on Friday night and falling to No. 1 ranked University of Rio Grande (Ohio) on Saturday afternoon.
“The team played very well on Friday against Houghton,” said head coach Marty Shirley. “A lot of the stuff we had been working on in practice was played in the match. As for our play on Saturday, [Rio Grande] was the better team and dominated most of the game.”
The Buffalo Soccer Classic included four nationally ranked teams: Milligan, Houghton College, Mid-Continent College and University of Rio Grande. On the first night of play, the first game pitted the Buffaloes against the Houghton Highlanders.
The Buffaloes came out strong as they scored a goal in the 22nd minute and held off the Highlanders, not allowing them to score until the second half, at the 60-minute mark. Milligan scored its last two goals in the second half and secured the win with a final score of 3-1.
The second game on Friday night was between Rio Grande and No. 10 ranked Mid-Continent College (Ky.). Rio Grande came out victorious with a score of 2-1.
The competition resumed on Saturday afternoon with Milligan up against Rio Grande, the NAIA champions last season. Milligan played hard during the first half to defend its goal. Rio Grande’s Ben Hunter scored the first goal in the 27th minute on a penalty kick. The Buffs tried to hold the Redmen to only one goal, but Rio Grande grabbed another goal right before halftime at the 42nd minute mark.
“We had a very good game plan. The boys played a very good first half,” said Shirley.
In the second half, the Buffs’ hopes continued to plunge as each of their shots were blocked and as Rio Grande scored four more goals to bring the score to 0-6. With only 20 seconds left in the game, freshman Stuart Macklinson made a last-ditch attempt to score for the Buffaloes but his shot was wide and Milligan remained scoreless. In the end, Rio Grande shut out the Buffs with a final score of 6-0.
“Second half, for about 10 minutes, we played real well but I was disappointed at the end of the game,” said Shirley. “We didn’t handle their pressure very well. I am most disappointed how we gave up after their third goal.”
For many of the new players, this was the first college-level tournament of their careers. “[Rio Grande] kept the ball well and were real patient,” said freshman midfielder Jordan Browning. “We can improve on team unity and playing more as a team.”
In the final game of the tournament, Mid-Continent defeated Houghton 4-0. Although the classic was not structured to have a winner, Rio Grande was the undeclared champion as it was the only team to finish undefeated.
Milligan’s record now moves to 1-3 for the season and 0-1 in the conference. The Buffaloes next game will be against Virginia Intermont College on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
“VIC is not eligible for conference play this year so we will be treating this as a nonconference match. They are going to be very skillful and have a lot of internationals, just like Mid-Continent,” said Shirley. “So we will be preparing just like we always do with team defense and countering well.”