Warriors Drop Close Match at Northwestern

ORANGE CITY, Iowa – Midland University’s comeback effort fell short Wednesday night as they lost to the Northwestern College Raiders 2-1.
An early goal in the 18th minute put the Warriors in a 1-0 hole after a Northwestern cross then header by junior midfielder Joshua Wingfield.
Later in the match, after a great save by Warrior goalkeeper Matthew Ricci, Northwestern would turn a fortunate bounce into a volley into the box that set up their second goal and gave them a 2-0 lead.
The Warriors were held scoreless until the 73rd minute when a wonderful pass into the box by freshman defender Ben Francis perfectly set up senior forward Liam Brandso, who then headed the ball out of the keepers reach and into the goal. The goal cut the deficit to one and put the Warriors back into the match.
Pressuring the defense again, the Warriors earned a free kick in the closing minutes of the match. Junior forward Thomas Crawford fired a powerful strike that was saved by just the fingertips of the Northwestern goalie to keep the game at 2-1 and effectively end the match.
Head coach Raphael Martinez wasn’t pleased with the result nor the early game efforts, “Unfortunately we didn’t play our best in a very important game. Northwestern was up for it and ready to play from the first minute and we were not. 2-0 was too big of a mountain for us to climb. We will regroup and prepare for Saturday.”
The loss was just the second of the season for the Warriors (4-2) and their first loss versus the Raiders (5-3, 3-3) since 2010.
The Warriors look to get back to their winning ways on Halloween, Saturday, October 31st on the road versus Mount Mary University (2-6-2,1-5-2). The GPAC match-up is set to kick-off at 3:30pm on Youngworth Field in Yankton, South Dakota.