GOSHEN, Ind. — Jimmelle Ramkissoon's late first-half penalty gave Goshen College a lead for most of the second half, but a pair of Spring Arbor University strikes sent the Cougars past the Maple Leafs 2-1 Wednesday night in Crossroads League men's soccer action at the John Ingold Athletic Complex.

The Maple Leafs (6-7-1, 1-3-1) had a handful of early chances, capped by a 9th-minute sequence where Spencer Aeschliman's shot was saved and the rebound fell to Lucas Bontreger, who missed wide. Nate Nussbaum took three shots in the first half-hour, getting one blocked and one saved in the 27th minute.

Spring Arbor (11-3, 5-0) had its best first-half chance from a 13th-minute corner kick as Hunter Gibbons' shot was cleared off the line and Jacob Crull had a follow-up attempt saved. Crull put three other shots on target in the opening stanza, but found the back of the net with none of them.

On the other end of the pitch, Goshen finished the half with four corner kicks, but a counterattack from an SAU shot was ultimately what got the hosts on the board. Nussbaum sent a pass up the left touchline to Stuart Aeschliman, who darted into the penalty area and sent a shot to the near post. Play continued for several seconds before the referee acknowledged his assistant's call for a handball, earning GC a penalty kick with 4:44 to play. Ramkissoon converted for a 1-0 lead.

The Maple Leafs finished the first half with 11 shots to Spring Arbor's 9 although the visitors had a 6-4 edge in shots on target.

After halftime, however, the ball spent much of its time near the same net in which Goshen had scored as the Cougars controlled the early possession: while SAU took the first 6 shots of the half over a 20-minute span, five of them missed the net and the remaining one found the gloves of goalkeeper Johan Escalante. The Maple Leafs made two attacking substitutions and earned a pair of corner kicks seconds apart in the middle of the half, but Spring Arbor slowly reversed the field position as the clock ticked toward 20 minutes remaining.

SAU would pull level with 17:30 to go after a Maple Leaf foul at the far edge of the Cougars' attacking third: Michael Procopio sent the ensuing free kick over the defense and inside the far post to score his team's first goal.

Stuart Aeschliman returned to the pitch by way of substitution after the goal, but Nussbaum was the only Maple Leaf to take a shot that could have retaken the lead and his 77th-minute attempt sailed wide.

The Cougars got their second score with 6:06 left as Morris Kamara left a pass for Mario Colella to finish with one touch to the far post. A pair of Cougar fouls in the final three minutes left GC with two free kicks, but no shots would materialize from those. SAU gave up two-thirds of the 12 free kicks after halftime, but took 10 shots in that span to Goshen's 2.

Smith, Nussbaum, Crull and Roderic Green led all players with 4 shots each: Crull's 3 attempts on targer were a game high. Escalante made 6 saves for GC before coming off in favor of Tomas Fonseca in the 62nd minute. Michael White stopped 3 shots for SAU.

Quoting GC head coach Arron Patrick:
"In the first half we had a solid game plan, and for the most part it worked perfectly. I knew that SAU would think that we were going to sit in deep and just defend because we have done that In the past. We decided to be brave and play with three strikers, knowing that we could hurt them on the counter out wide. Before our goal we had two really open chances that we should have scored on, so when the goal finally came I thought we deserved it.

"After halftime, we changed our shape and told the guys that we had to be brave again, this time by playing the ball out of the back. Sadly, we were not willing to do this and it ultimately caused massive amounts of pressure and SAU scored the goals that they deserved. The Cougars are a solid team and earned their points, credit to them for that!

"We have been very healthy most of the season and right now we are a little banged up. As we look to Saturday we need some guys to step up a little and fill some big shoes. We really do have a great squad of players, and I'm confident that we will rebound quickly and be ready for what is always a tough game against Huntington."

Notable Numbers:

72: The 72 minutes that elapsed before the Cougars' first goal marked the longest that Spring Arbor had been held scoreless in a conference game this year, besting the 71:04 posted by Taylor in the CL opener for both teams.

6: Goshen improved to 6-for-7 from the penalty spot this season with Ramkissoon's goal. The senior is a perfect 3-for-3 on spot kicks, with Stuart Aeschliman, Murray Cockburn and Ethan Francois-Ravalier adding one each.

4: Escalante has now made six or more saves in four consecutive appearances dating back to Sept. 22 at Lindsey Wilson.

Up Next: Saturday, Oct. 13 — Huntington at Goshen, 7 p.m.