MILWAUKEE – The Mount Mary University soccer team lost today to visiting Grace Bible College (4-3-1). The Tigers and Blue Angels (3-5-1) went into halftime with 1-0 lead for GBC, then a turnaround for both teams resulted in a 5-1 final in favor of the Tigers.
An early goal at the 7-minute mark for GBC off the foot of Maddie Brown got the offense started. For the first 45 minutes, the Tigers pushed into the Blue Angels territory with 15 team shots. Brown and her offense continued to press, but the Blue Angels defense and Hannah Rose (So./Jeromesville, Ohio) withstood that first half onslaught with seven saves following the early goal.
In the second half, the Tigers continued to attack with their offense in the Blue Angels box. With 13 more team shots from Grace Bible, the Tigers were able to sneak in three goals in the first thirty minutes of the second half to expand their lead to 4-0.
MMU was not done, however. The Blue Angels were much more aggressive in the final 45 minutes and had multiple scoring opportunities. With ten minutes left, and a similar fate from their 6-0 loss to Grace Bible last season looming on their minds, the Blue Angels pressed hard and a deflection from Tha Chin Tial (So./Milwaukee, Wis.) found Karina Salgado (Jr./Chicago, Ill.) inside enemy territory. Salgado turned and found a small opening among multiple defenders. Salgado struck with a swift kick of the ball that bent around the goal keeper for MMU's first goal of the contest.
As time wound down, the Tigers found a breakaway and scored a late goal to make things 5-1.
"I really felt good at halftime when we were down 1-0 and really hadn't played well," mentioned Mount Mary Head Soccer Coach Jon Gulrajani. "It could have been much worse, but we hung in defensively and Hannah [Rose] made some great saves."
Rose was dealt the loss and is now 3-5-1 on the season in her 13-save performance against the Tigers.
"It was a tough result at home today," coach Gulrajani said. "Grace Bible is a very good team. They have some very special players and they did a good job capitalizing on their chances."
"We showed great fight all 90 minutes and I was happy Karina [Salgado] hit a great strike from distance to give us a little energy late in the game. Games like these you have to make sure you learn from it and prepare a bit better for the next match."
Following the Tigers, the Blue Angels will have a short respite as they head down the road to take on the Wisconsin Lutheran College Warriors (3-7). The two will showdown on Sat. Sept. 30 at 7:30 pm at Wisconsin Lutheran Field. Live stats and video will be made available for the game with links at mtmaryahtletics.com.
