Trojan boys shut out Panthers, take control of SEC

The Fairfield boys' soccer team kept it's conference championship hopes alive Thursday evening at Mt. Pleasant when the visiting Trojans improved to 6-5 overall and 4-1 in the SEC with a 2-0 victory over the host Panthers.

Details

The game started approximately 40 minutes late with rain and winds coming off East Lake that exceeded it's already treacherous tendencies. During the first half, Mt. Pleasant had the wind at their back and a ton of shots but a lot of them were from outside and keeper Maxx Anderson had a lot of easy saves. The second half was totally flipped with Fairfield having the majority of the opportunities.

Scoring

The first goal was by Juan Rojo on a penalty kick with 28 minutes left in the first half off a foul in the box. The sophomore standout sank it for his fifth goal of the year to make it 1-0.

The next goal didn't happen until one minute left in the contest when Kyle Jeffrey scored after launching the ball from a defender position and it hitting the wet grass and taking a crazy high hop over the Panthers keeper.

Coaches Corner with Felisto Guezimane

SEC standings

'I let them know before the game so they could make up their minds well ahead of time. They knew what they had coming into it. So now I'm looking forward to Fort Madison next week.”

Leading at the half

'It made a lot of difference being one-goal up at halftime,” said Guezimane. 'It let them know that they were going to have it a little easier, but it wasn't out of (hand). Mt. Pleasant is a very good team, and they've got some very good players.”

Next

With the victory, Fairfield will now host Fort Madison Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. with the 4-1 Trojans looking to take full control of the Southeast Conference with a victory over the 3-2 Bloodhounds that should be 4-2 by Tuesday after facing Keokuk tonight, a team they defeated 7-3 earlier this month.