Box Score OKLAHOMA CITY (Oct. 6, 2014) – St. Edward's (Texas) is considered among the elite teams in NCAA Division II men's soccer, bringing a No. 23 national ranking into its game Monday afternoon at Oklahoma Christian.
If the result is any indication, OC isn't too far away from being nationally competitive. St. Edward's was just able to hold on for a 2-1 win over the Eagles in a game every bit as close as the score might indicate.
"The last week of training, we had nine days off between games, which I definitely think we needed," OC coach
David Scott said. "We talked a lot about the way we compete in games and our work rate. Today the boys showed up and they fought. The thing we try to instill in them is that if you show up and you battle and you fight, you're in any game and today we had a chance. We put ourselves there."
St. Edward's (7-2-1, 2-0 Heartland Conference) outshot OC (1-5-1, 0-1) by a 25-13 count, but the Hilltoppers needed a lucky break to head into halftime ahead. During a scramble near the OC goal, one of the Eagles' players was called for a handball, and Jack Blanton converted with one second left before halftime.
The Hilltoppers went up 2-0 in the 53rd minute after Nate Coons collected the ball and blasted it into the back of the net from 15 yards out. St. Edward's nearly scored again moments later before the Eagles collected themselves.
OC earned a penalty kick of its own in the 70th minute and
Domenico DeGrazia converted to pull the Eagles within 2-1. The Eagles had a handful of chances in the final minutes, forcing St. Edward's goalkeeper Kevin Leib to make a couple of saves, which he did to keep the Hilltoppers ahead.
"Giving up the penalty with one second left makes it a little tough to go into halftime, after putting so much effort into keeping it 0-0 through the first half," Scott said. "We were a little bit unlucky there. I think we came out a little bit slow because of that in the second half and get down 2-0. Credit to the guys, though, for bouncing back and fighting the rest of the way and putting themselves in a position to have a chance at the end."
Lieb finished with four saves, while OC goalkeeper
Evan Helker had six stops.
OC will be off the rest of the week before returning to league play next Monday, hosting Dallas Baptist (Texas) at 2:30 p.m.
