Lexington, Ky. – The Transylvania men's soccer team jolted its offense in a 3-1 win over the Earlham College Quakers on Wednesday night at Pat Deacon Stadium.
The win boosts the Pioneers to 4-7-2 overall and 2-4-1 in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference play while the loss drops the Quakers to 0-14 overall and 0-7 in HCAC contests.
The Pioneers jumped out early and controlled the attacking half from the opening whistle. Mitchell Crispin opened the scoring in the 3rd minute of the game after Drew Grider dashed into the penalty area and laced a shot that rebounded off of the Earlham goalkeeper. Crispin collected the ball and fired the Pioneers in front, 1-0.
Transylvania continued applying the pressure for the remainder of the half, taking a 1-0 lead into the break. The Quakers equalized early in the second half after Cade Terry made a great save but could not keep out the rebound as the match moved to 1-1 in the 48th minute.
Max Nusbacher immediately answered upon resumption of play as Alec Coomes played a perfect ball to the senior, who calmly slotted the ball into the net to retake the lead, 2-1 in the 49th minute.
After earning a free kick from 30 yards out, Jak Birdsong looked to seal the game for the Pioneers. Birdsong curled a beautiful strike into the bottom left corner of goal to extend the Pioneer lead to 3-1 in the 78th minute and secure the Transylvania victory.
The Pioneers dominated offensively by outshooting the Quakers 20-11, with a 14-5 edge in shots on goal.
The Pioneers will travel to North Manchester, Indiana to take on the Manchester University Spartans on October 23. The match is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m. at Good Field.
For more information on Transylvania men's soccer, follow @TransyMSoccer on Twitter
