Washington boys soccer team loses in Mt. Pleasant

MT. PLEASANT ? A rivalry was renewed at East Lake Park in Mt. Pleasant Monday night, April 24, as the Panther boys? soccer team took on rival Washington in front of a ruckus crowd.

The sun was out and the warm weather made for an up-and-down ballgame that saw six goals hit the back of the net as Mt. Pleasant took the game, 4-2.

Washington wasted no time getting the scoring going. Tony Torres capitalized on a miscue by the Panther defense and opened up the game with a goal to put the Demons up, 1-0.

Mt. Pleasant bounced back and earned the majority of shots in the first half, including three that turned into goals.

Ryan Hutchinson took an assist from Ovidio Reyes Cardona and tied the game up at the 22-minute mark.

Ovidio found Payton Kelly over the middle a few minutes later and Kelly hit a left-footed goal to help Mt. Pleasant turn the one-goal deficit into a one-goal lead.

?We just stayed with it,? Panther coach Neil Schmitz said about the first half comeback ?We were playing well (and) we kept the pressure on.?

The teams traded chances towards the end of the first half but neither team could score again until Hutchinson made it 3-1 with 1:40 left in the half. He bursted through two Demon defenders and got it past a charging Thomas Zimmer who started in goal for Washington.

Washington regrouped in the second half and nearly cut the lead back to one goal in the 13th minute of the half.

Abdullah Talal and John Dillon had a break away after getting past the Panther defense and both players had a shot to put it in the net but Mt. Pleasant keeper Nathan Rauenbuehler scrambled to knock it away and preserved the two-goal lead.

The Panthers held on to the lead throughout the half and put it on ice when Reyes Cardona sent a high rocket from the edge of the box that kissed the bottom of the goal post before hitting the net to make it 4-1 with nine minutes to play.

The Demons had one last goal in them, however. After a penalty on Rauenbuehler, Caleb Suchan took the direct kick and sent a bullet into the top left corner of the goal to cut the lead to 4-2.

The scoring would end there, however, and Mt. Pleasant walked out with the two-goal victory.

?On the positive side, we?re getting a lot more shots and putting them on goal,? Schmitz said after the win. ?We?ve been working on that the last two weeks; Get the shots and put them so they have a chance to go in. Today they went in.?

Washington coach Sally Hart says of the game, ?Overall, we controlled the ball most of the match, but Mt. Pleasant was able to capitalize on some fast breaks. A few injuries slowed us down, but it was good to get the first and last goals of the game. Caleb Suchan had a great shot on a free kick outside of the 18 to get that last goal.?

With the win, Mt. Pleasant moved to 2-3 overall and 2-2 in conference play. They will host Fairfield Thursday, April 27, at 4:30 p.m.

Washington fell to 3-4 overall and 1-3 in SEC play. They?ll host Mediapolis Thursday, April 27, at 6 p.m.