Panther boys fall to No. 2 Marion

Mt. Pleasant gave No. 2 Marion a tough first half on Monday at East Lake Park, but they couldn't hold the Indians down for long. Marion scored four goals in the second half to upend Mt. Pleasant 5-1

Marion came into the game having gave up just one goal all year, but Mt. Pleasant doubled that total when they scored the first goal of the contest. Nathan Rauenbuehler was knocked down in the box and scored a top-shelf goal on the penalty kick to hand Marion their first deficit of the season.

Unfortunately for Mt. Pleasant, Marion star Jaffer Murphy tied it up just over one minute later. He split defenders and rocketed a ball into the goal to tie the game at 1-1 with 15:20 remaining in the half.

The Panthers kept it tied at 1-1 until halftime, putting Marion in a rare close-game situation.

'We did a really good job,” head coach Neil Schmitz said about the first half. 'Obviously they're ranked No. 2 in the state, so they're going to be a solid team. We played very well and stayed in the game. I'm sure that's the first time they've been behind all season.”

The Indians came out firing in the second half. Marion scored three goals over the course of 10 minutes, putting in the go-ahead goal with 37:26 remaining, adding one with 36 minutes left and sending another in with 29:27 on the clock.

Trailing 4-1 with 25 minutes left, the Panthers nearly scored again. Rauenbuehler sent a laser shot off the Marion keeper, which deflected up in the air for a header shot from Ovidio Reyes-Cardona, but his attempt was off the mark.

Marion added another goal with 12:21 remaining to stretch the lead to 5-1. The Panthers had two chances in the last 10 minutes sent away on diving saves, one on a free kick by Cade Warner, and one on a shot from Reyes-Cardona.

'I'm happy with the first half, but second half, I think we got a little tired,” Schmitz said after the game. 'We just broke down. It's the law of averages, when you're getting that many shots at you, sooner or later one of them is bound to fall.”

The Panther boys will be in Washington on Thursday, May 9. This was Mt. Pleasant's final home game before the postseason, which begins in two weeks. Schmitz says playing a team like Marion will help them figure out what they need to improve on before that time comes.

'It really helps us,” Schmitz says. 'That gives us a couple of things we know to work on, and we really don't see that level of talent around this area. It gives us a good barometer of where we are and where we need to be.”