By Tony Miller
Sports Information Director

GOSHEN, Ind. — Stuart Aeschliman assisted on the game's first goal and scored the winner with 12:02 remaining Saturday night as Goshen College knocked off 18th-ranked Spring Arbor University 2-1 in men's soccer action at the John Ingold Athletic Complex.

The Maple Leafs (10-3-1, 3-1-1) took the match's first two shots before allowing Spring Arbor (11-3, 4-1) to take the next five: the Cougars hit the post once while Goshen netminder Johan Escalante made two saves in the first 25 minutes.

Over the quarter-hour leading into halftime, however, the tables turned: Goshen got off eight attempts in the last 13 minutes while holding the Cougars without a shot and largely out of the offensive half. Nate Nussbaum watched a shot sail high in the 32nd minute before Ollie Smith and Brodie Nofziger had attempts saved in the 41st and 43rd, respectively.

Despite the barrage of late attempts, GC could manage no better than a 0-0 result at halftime.

"I was disappointed not to be leading at halftime, if I'm honest," said Goshen coach Arron Patrick. "Tactically we adjusted to give them a look they weren't anticipating, and we could have gone a couple goals up early on. They are a top team and had a couple chances from set pieces and a longer shot, but we weathered that storm. We changed a few things on the fly and finished the half in complete control."

Goshen's breakthrough came four and a half minutes into the second stanza. Aeschliman's corner from the left side, struck into a 13-mile-per-hour crosswind from the northeast, reached the head of late-charging center back Tevin Gilkes inside the far post. While Cougar goalkeeper Isiah Handspike got a glove on the ball, he only deflected it farther away from him and into the net for a 1-0 Goshen lead. The goal was Gilkes' first career tally and gave Aeschliman four assists in the past five games.

"We got back on the front foot after the break and scored a nice goal," Patrick said. "It's the first time I've let Tevin go forward this year so it was great to see him get on the end of that cross and tuck it away. He's a huge part of this team's spirit and that goal meant a lot to him and the guys. But we knew Spring Arbor would have 10 or 15 minutes of real pressure in the second half, and just as we were planning to account for that, they did."

A line change brought four fresh Cougars onto the field in the 59th minute, and over the next quarter-hour they experienced a renaissance. The team won three straight corner kicks, which culminated harmlessly enough in a shot from Nate Foddrill that sailed wide with 25 minutes left. But Cole Russell won the ball on the ensuing goal kick and played a square ball to Morris Kamara, who finished strong to knot things up at 1 with 24:17 left.

The goal was Goshen's first concession at home in the last nine halves and the first time a conference opponent has tickled the twine at GC since October 1, 2016.

"Mo is a top player who tucked his goal away nicely to make a game of it," Patrick said. "In the past SAU has just kicked on against teams in that sort of situation (after an equalizer), but our guys showed great resolve and calmness. We got back into a groove and did well exploiting them in wide areas. All night they struggled to find an answer for our counterattacking."

A dozen minutes later, Aeschliman won the ball in a duel in front of the benches at the halfway line. After a 50-yard burst of diagonal energy that left one defender on the saturated ground, he cut to his left along the byline and fired the ball into the roof of the net for a 2-1 lead and his first goal in four games.

The strike moved Aeschliman into double figures with 10 goals this season, a mark bettered by just 27 players in the nation to start the day. The Salem, Oregon, native becomes the first Maple Leaf to score at least 10 goals in a season since Tony Janzen racked up 14 in 2007.

"Stuart showed real skill and quality with the winner," Patrick said. "I've said numerous times that we have multiple weapons that can hurt teams and it happened to be him tonight. Our bench was awesome as well: they all played big roles and our squad can be very proud of this result.

The Cougars took four shots in the last dozen minutes: Escalante saved a Jake Sterling try off the rebound of a 25-yard free kick with nine minutes remaining and an attempt from Foddrill with 2:50 left. Despite Spring Arbor's 6-4 edge in shots on target, the Cougars still trailed as time ran out.

Goshen knocked off a ranked team for the first time since another 2-1 win over SAU on the last day of September 2015. The winning goal in that game was also scored by a heralded freshman who had claimed state player of the year honors in high school as Goshen High School product Isaac Huerta added a golden goal in the 107th minute.

Escalante would finish with five saves while Handspike added two. Each team took 15 shots while Goshen had seven of the 10 corner kicks.

"Tonight was a statement win for us," Patrick said. "We have talked a lot about making teams solve the problems we give them rather than simply trying to stop what they do. This was a very talented and experienced side that we just gave all sorts of problems. Now it means nothing if we don't take recovery seriously and perform well against a very good Taylor side. This can't be the highlight of our season: it needs to be the starting point of much bigger things."

The win moved Goshen into third place in the 10-team Crossroads League while knocking Spring Arbor into second; the Cougars were jumped by Grace, which topped Saint Francis 2-1 to remain unbeaten at 4-0-1. Goshen broke a tie with Bethel, which lost 2-0 at Indiana Wesleyan.

Goshen hosts Taylor at 7 p.m. Wednesday in its penultimate home match of the regular season before traveling to Mount Vernon Nazarene in Ohio next Saturday.