Second-Half Woes Spoil Men’s Soccer Homecoming

UPLAND, Ind. – The Taylor Trojans' sharp defensive effort kept TU in the match through one half of play on Saturday afternoon, but the Cougars of Spring Arbor struck for three goals after the intermission to emerge victorious and spoil Taylor's Homecoming.

TU (4-10-1, 1-5-1 CL) was kept busy by the visitors' attacking front through the game's opening 30 minutes, when SAU (9-4-3, 4-3-0) took the first 14 shots, four of which landed on goal. Sam Spiegel was terrific in net, however, as he denied all four shots, part of seven saves he had in the game. Spiegel's highlight save of the day came in the 24th minute when he used his entire frame to leap and poke the ball away on a shot from the Cougars' top goal-scorer, Matheus Cunha.

For as dominant as SAU seemingly was to begin the match, Taylor owned the final 15 minutes to close out the first period, as it outshot the Cougars 7-1 in that stretch. Brian Matipa was the one leading the charge in generating good looks, but a pair of saves by the Spring Arbor goalie and a couple misfires kept the match scoreless at the break.

It did not take long after halftime for the Cougars to re-find their footing and put up the game's first goal in the 49th minute.

After some back-and-forth play for the first time in the match over the next 20 minutes, SAU scored again on a rebound shot off a save by Spiegel. Spring Arbor tallied another goal in the 71st minute to close out the game with a 3-0 win.

Taylor's offense was able to create some more scoring chances throughout the second half, as it finished with 15 shots, besting its season average by five shots. Matipa led the Trojans with four shot attempts, while Justin Devlin had a team-high two shots on goal.

TU closes out its home schedule on Wednesday at 7 p.m. with a tilt against No. 10 Bethel (10-2-3, 4-0-2 CL) at Turner Stadium.