GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Clutching to a one goal lead with less than a minute to play, the Colorado Mesa University Men's Soccer Team held out for a 4-3 victory this morning as they defeated Simon Fraser University at Community Hospital Unity Field.
Snapping their two-game losing streak, the Mavericks now move to 2-2-1 on the year while Simon Fraser remains winless at 0-4-2. Colorado Mesa remains undefeated against the Red Leafs as well, holding a 4-0-1 record all-time.
In the high scoring affair there were three different Mavs to record goals with Manuel Ponce Casas leading that group by scoring two himself. He was aided by Connor Chilson and Nathan Hernandez with the pair scoring the other two.
This was the team's second highest scoring game this season with their highest mark being five goals in their 5-0 victory over UT Dallas on Sept. 7.
In addition to the seven total goals in today's game there were also a staggering 30 shots taken between the two teams with 20 corner kicks happening as well. The Red Leafs led in both of those categories but also led in yellow cards recording three while the Mavs were cardless.
Playing in a bit of a back-and-forth game to start, the Red Leafs jumped out to an early lead to start the morning with them scoring just three minutes into the contest. After a successful cross pass from near the corner SFU's Koji Poon scored his first of three goals on the day with him knocking it in from inside 15 feet.
Needing not much time to respond the Mavs tied the game up just five minutes later in the eighth minute with Connor Chilson scoring his first goal of his career. Chilson's goal came from some excellent passing by Riccardo Legnante and Ponce Casas with each of them recording an assist on the score.
Staying tied at 1-1, the Mavs took their eventual lead of the game in the 29th minute to follow with this being the first of Ponce Casas' two goals on the day before he added another goal in 30th.
His first goal in the 29th minute came with him hammering a bullet of a shot in after the ball ricocheted around the penalty area while his second goal in the 30th minute came from an excellent cross pass by Matteo Bonelli.
Colorado Mesa led 3-1 at the half with them outshooting the Red Leafs 8-6, but saw some craziness develop in the second half to make the game a bit tighter than expected.
In the 49th minute Poon scored his second goal of the game for Simon Fraser to make it a one score game again with it now sitting at 3-2 in Colorado Mesa's favor.
While the game looked like it was over in the last minutes, more chaos ensued in the final minute of play with Nathan Hernandez scoring once more for the Mavs as he tacked on a goal in the 89th minute after a defensive miscue by the Red Leafs.
Still not done with the scoring, Poon added his third and final goal of the game for SFU in the last five seconds but with so little time left the game was over almost right away to follow on the kickoff.
Poon finished with six shots and five on goal to lead the Red Leafs while Ponce Casas totaled five shots with three on goal to lead the Mavs.
In the net, Nathan Beck had six saves for Colorado Mesa while facing 18 shots including many defenses against crosses from the Red Leafs' 14 corner kicks.
Traveling to the road next week the Mavs play a pair of RMAC opponents in nonconference action with them heading to take on Adams State University and South Dakota Mines on Wednesday and Sunday.
