Three second half tallies lift Men’s Soccer over Truett McConnell

CLEVELAND, Ga. (October 5, 2022) – The Milligan University men's soccer team scored four unanswered goals to secure its fourth-straight Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) victory, 4-1, at Truett McConnell on Wednesday evening.

Truett McConnell (6-3-2, 3-3-1 AAC) scored the game's first goal in the 16th minute after the Buffs had seemingly disarmed a Bears' free kick into the penalty area. Milligan's clear towards midfield found its way to a TMU defender, who sent a long ball to the left post where a leaping Bear volleyed it into the net.

Despite the 1-0 deficit, Milligan(4-2-3, 4-1-1 AAC) racked up 19 shots over the game's first 30 minutes of action. In the 37th minute, Greg Anderson found Inaki Morano in the top of the penalty area and a Bear foul Moreno before he could shoot or forward a pass wide to Alexsander Krogh. The result of the foul was a penalty kick, which Luke Bennett buried for his sixth goal of the season to tie the match at one.

The teams went into the half deadlocked at one. The Buffs held a 23-6 edge in shots over the game's first 45 minutes.

In the 54th minute, Moreno blasted a shot that was deflected by the TMU goalkeeper off crossbar. Mate Lengyel swooped in and blasted a shot over the Bears' diving keeper to give Milligan a 2-1 edge.

Four minutes later, Ethan Bishop launched a long throw-in from the left sideline and Elies Simo headed the ball just inside the left post to give the Buffs a 3-1 advantage.

Bishop collected another assist on a long throw-in as his heave from the right sideline connected with Keanu Boulany who powered in his first career varsity goal.

The Buffs finished with 34 shots, 17 shots on goal and four corner kicks on the evening. Ludvig Wille made five saves in the win.

Milligan returns home Saturday for a critical AAC matchup against defending regular season champion CIU. The Rams top the AAC standings with a 16 points (5-0-1 AAC).