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Goshen College

Kristian Gecaj prepares to take on a defender.

Men's Soccer

Defense makes early lead stand up in road conference win

Box Score

HUNTINGTON, Ind. — Kristian Gecaj opened the scoring in the third minute, Lucas Bontreger and Stuart Aeschliman added insurance and Tomas Fonseca held on for the win Saturday as the Goshen College men's soccer team upset Huntington University 3-2 in a Crossroads League match at King Stadium.

The Foresters (10-3-2, 4-1-1) outshot the Maple Leafs (6-8, 2-4) by a factor of more than 3 to 1, but Goshen put five of its six shots on target and scored with three of them to get out of town with the victory.

Gecaj put a bulge in the onion bag and a score on the board with 2:08 gone in the first half, only for Huntington to equalize before the 10-minute mark when Jake Erlandson scored on an assist from Caleb Sexton.

The Maple Leafs broke the tie again with 27:02 left in the first half on a goal by Lucas Bontreger, who earned Aeschliman his second assist of the day, and this time the lead stuck. Aeschliman added a goal of his own to make it 3-1 with 28:25 left in the second half.

Noah Stanford scored an unassisted goal for the Foresters with 5:20 showing on the game clock to bring the hosts back within 3-2, but the Foresters would not get a chance to test Fonseca with a shot to tie the game.

Fonseca made 9 saves and the GC team was credited with 3, giving the Maple Leafs 12 stops and the Foresters a 14-5 edge in shots on goal. The Foresters also had an 8-0 edge in corner kicks and took 20 free kicks between fouls and offsides, conceding just 10.

Gabe Greenfield made 2 saves for Huntington, which got 4 shots from Erlandson and 3 apiece from Christian Kohen and Josh Erlandson. Bontreger and Aeschliman led Goshen with 2 shots apiece, both on goal in both cases.

With Saturday's action not yet fully complete around the league, Goshen's win moves the Maple Leafs into a tie for seventh place in the Crossroads League. The team will have a chance to break its tie with the University of Saint Francis when the two schools meet Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the John Ingold Athletic Complex.

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