Mankato, Minn. – After a crushing 2-1 loss to Bethany Lutheran on Thursday, the Crown men's soccer team went to Mankato with a three points or bust mentality. In a back and forth game that was every bit as contentious as the team's previous meeting, Crown prevailed 3-2, moving back to within a point of Morris for second in the UMAC men's soccer table.
Thursday's matchup with the Vikings was a physical one, with the teams combining for 21 fouls and the referee showing six yellows in the second half.
Truman Shetler made history, scoring on an assist from
David Jensen and
Eric Strohbeen just 12 seconds before the half to break Crown's career goals record. The goal was his 13
th of the season and 41
st of his career. The goal may have been one of the easiest of his career as the cross from Strohbeen left the goal wide open and Shetler only had to get a touch on the ball from about two yards out.
Crown had multiple opportunities to go two goals up, but couldn't finish a number of quality chances and eventually relinquished their lead in the 73
rd minute. The Vikings used that momentum to score again less than five minutes later and held off a late Storm charge to earn the 2-1 victory.
The loss set up a big confrontation on Saturday, with Crown desperate to keep the pace in the UMAC standings. This matchup was equally tough, with the two teams combining to commit 26 fouls.
Crown took an early lead on Shetler's 14
th of the season, but gave the lead back a few minutes later. The Storm jumped ahead once again after
Daniel Arellano set up Shetler's second goal of the game, but once again, the Vikings answered back quickly, making the score 2-2 at the break.
That score would hold until
Josiah Steinkamp played a nice header to
Ger Jones, who tucked the ball under the charging keeper and into the bottom corner. 20 more tense minutes would follow, but the final score would read 3-2 in favor of the Storm.
Crown now readies to host St. Scholastica and Northland in their final two home matches of the regular season this weekend.
