Trojans Avenge Loss, Advance to Semifinals
October 31, 2009
After an 11-day hiatus the Taylor men's soccer team avenged its regular season finale loss to Grace with a 2-1 win Saturday in the first round of the Mid-Central College Conference tournament.
The Oct. 20th loss gave Grace the fourth-place tiebreaker and home field advantage in the postseason matchup, but the Trojans overcame a 4-6 regular season road record to advance to the semifinals.
Sophomore Tyler Beachler led the way for Taylor capitalizing on two of his three shots on goal. After a two-game lapse, the first team all-conference selection returned to the scoring column pushing his season total to 18.
Grace was the aggressor in the first half outshooting Taylor 11-4, but Beachler made quick work connecting on the team's first shot attempt of the game in the 10th minute.
Twenty minutes later Taylor's Beck Joslin assisted Beachler's second counter of the game giving the Trojans a 2-0 lead which they maintained into the halftime break.
The Lancers continued their attack in the second half posting five more shot attempts than the Trojans and found the back of the net in the 66th minute to cut the lead to 2-1.
However, it was the last serious threat by any team for the balance of the contest.
Goalkeeper Josh Giuliano recorded seven saves in the game.
Taylor improves to 8-10 on the season and will take on top-seeded Bethel next Saturday. The Trojans lost to the Pilots 7-2 in a regular season contest on Oct. 10.