COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus Men's Soccer battled with Muhlenberg on a rainy Saturday night and dropped a 1-0 hard-fought contest at Patterson Field in Centennial Conference action.
The Mules struck just 1:42 into the contest for the only goal of the game after a throw-in from the left side snuck through traffic and found the foot of Luke Feeney in the center of the box. Despite the early goal, the Bears turned around and created some early chances of their own. Junior
Luke Luehrs had a long shot in the sixth minute saved before senior
Tommy Mollis sent a shot off the corner of the crossbar 50 seconds later. Ursinus sent three more shots on net over the next 12 minutes but could not break through to tie the game. Muhlenberg continued to test their former and now current Bears goalkeeper,
Zach Matik, five more times in the first half but Matik had answers for all the shots on target to keep the deficit at one.
The second half started with battle for possession and Muhlenberg had the best early chance when a shot was sent off the crossbar in the 58th minute. Ursinus valiantly fought to tie the game but were only able to get one shot on net in the second half in the 56th minute when junior
Patrick Tormey had a shot saved. Matik came up huge for the Bears in the 81st minute when he stopped back-to-back shots in the box to keep the deficit at one. Senior
Nick Balbierer prevented a second Muhlenberg goal in the 83rd minute by fending off a shot after Mule forward Taylan Akdag got past an aggressive Matik on the right side of the field. Ursinus moved the ball into the Muhlenberg zone in the waning seconds but ultimately could not get a shot off.
The Mules held a 23-10 shot advantage for the game and an 11-6 edge in shots on goal. Muhlenberg also held a slight 4-3 edge in corner kicks. Matik made a season-high nine saves in the full 90 minutes while Ben Mulford tallied six saves in the Mules for the contest.
The Bears return to action on Wednesday, October 18th as they will travel to face Haverford at 4:00 p.m.
