St. Bonifacius, Minn. – The men's soccer team had to wait through multiple delays to start their match with Minnesota Morris on Saturday night, waiting through a lengthy lightning delay before opening their conference season and capping off Crown College's homecoming weekend. The Polars controlled the match for almost the full 90 minutes, but weren't able to convert a trio of golden opportunities and were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw.
The matchup featured two very different teams with the visiting Cougars looking to sit deeper and threaten on the counter and Crown controlling possession and building up out of the back.
The Polars were gifted a great chance for an early lead when a cross was handled by a Cougar defender in the penalty area and Crown was awarded a penalty.
Juan Fernando Arriaga saw his shot saved by veteran Morris keeper Lucas Harmon and the score remained 0-0.
Despite the early setback, Crown continued to pressure the Cougars, maintaining possession but struggling to create clear-cut chances.
That all changed near the end of the half when substitute Diego Romero found a clever through ball play Joaquin Silva in on goal. The winger saw his shot parried wide by Harmon but midfielder Ethan Medina pounced on the rebound and fired in with a first time effort at the near post to give the Polars a 1-0 lead.
Unfortunately, the Cougars wasted no time fighting back as Carter Watkinson got behind the Crown defense and produced a nice finish just inside the far post to restore parity at 1-1. Less than three and a half minutes separated the two first half goals.
Crown regrouped at halftime and thoroughly dominated the second half from a possession standpoint, but again couldn't find the perfect final ball as the Cougars stacked bodies behind the ball.
Crown's next big chance again came from a penalty kick as Arriaga won a foul on the other end of the pitch and the referee again pointed to the spot. Crown saw Pedro Silveira step up this time, but his right-footed effort sailed over the bar and the Polars once again spurned a chance to take the lead from 12 yards.
The rest of the match would continue in much the same way with Crown dominating possession and Morris looking to create something on the counter.
That all changed with under a minute to play as a set piece opportunity for the Cougars turned into a counterattacking opportunity for the Polars.
Romero won a battle in midfield and raced away toward the Morris goal with only fellow attacker Tim Jaeger for company. With a 2-0 opportunity and only the goalkeeper to beat Harmon once again came up huge for the Cougars as the senior closed down Romero and snuffed out the chance, winning the challenge with his feet. The Cougars scrambled the ball clear and were able to see out the remaining few seconds to secure a point.
The Polars will hope to take some encouragement from the performance, but will need to get over the result as they travel to Roseville for another key UMAC matchup next week.
