-Photo by Ryan C. Harris
Troy Childress
Reporter
October 21, 2005
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Junior Caleb Bollman tries to take control in game verses
opponent Virginia Intermont College. -Photo by Ryan C. Harris |
The Milligan men’s soccer team suffered its third
loss in a row to conference team Virginia Intermont College by a score of 2-1 on
Tuesday. A win would have given the team an automatic bid to regionals.
The game got off to a rocky start as the Cobras’
Alan Delahunty scored the first goal of the game off of a questionable call in
the eighth minute.
Junior goalkeeper Jordan Fode thought he called a
timeout but it was never acknowledge by the referee. The six seconds a
goalkeeper has before putting the ball back in play ran out. The Cobras took a
free kick two feet from the goal. With the confusion from the play half the team
was down the field waiting for Fode’s kick while Delahunty slipped the ball past
everyone. “It was our fault for not following the ball,” said junior David
Lilly.
Milligan recovered from the heavily disputed call,
and Lilly scored in the 24th minute off sophomore Josh Stephen’s assist. “I cut
the defense and never let them turn around,” said Lilly.
Nine minutes later VIC took the lead when Mark
McCormick dropped one in.
Coach Dave Dixon described the goal as a fly ball where the centerfielder
reacted too soon. “Fode anticipated too much, and that is not typical of him,”
he said.
That goal seemed to take the wind out of the Buffs
in the first half. “We never could come back from it,” said Lilly.
The second half started off with more of
Milligan’s style of soccer. They possessed the ball and eliminated the mental
mistakes made earlier in the game.
During the game 75 fouls were called, 42 for VIC
and 33 for Milligan. Four yellow cards were issued to VIC players.
“With 75 fouls called that is the basically one
foul per each minute of the game,” said Dixon. “We can’t get into any rhythm or
flow when that happens.”
Milligan had one last shot to tie the game during
the last seconds, but their hopes fell short as the ball bounced off the top bar
of the goal.
“Until the last second I thought we were going to
score,” Lilly said.
“Both teams played beneath what they could do,”
said Milligan soccer alumnus Ali Mohamed. “(Milligan) wasn't playing creative
soccer.”
The loss brings the Buffs’ overall record to 9-7-1 and 5-2-1 in the conference. The Buffs have one more regular season game before learning who they will play in the playoffs.