MOUNT VERNON, Ohio - The Goshen men's soccer team played their Crossroads League opener on the road at Mount Vernon Nazarene on Wednesday night. With a 1-1 tie, Goshen now has a 6-1-2 record this season.

Goshen doubled Mount Vernon's shot total in the first half, 10-5. The Leafs were building momentum, as six of their shots came in the last 13 minutes of the half. GC outshot MVNU 4-1 in the first 15 minutes of the second half, and then came through with a 62nd minute goal from Eli Simones. This was the first time Goshen had led in a conference opener since 2017.

Not long after, however, the Cougars started to get more control of the ball. Goshen made a series of substitutions but the home team was still able to get on the board in the 80th minute with a goal from Calvin Henthorn. The tide turned Goshen's way again in the last eight minutes as they had four shots in that span while MVNU had none. Two shots went wide and two were blocked, though, and the game ended in a 1-1 tie.

The Leafs finished with 20 shots and eight on goal and the Cougars had 14 shots and six on goal. The Leafs had four more corner kicks and each team had four yellow cards.

This is the second straight season that the teams have played to a tie. Goshen had lost their previous three games in Mount Vernon. Simones is tied for eighth in the conference with four goals this season and is tied with Jethro Ndyomugabe for the team lead. It matches his season-best for goals in a season, from 2022. Adrian Gonzalez Martinez had six shots in the game, tied for the most by any GC player in the last three season.

Goshen has surpassed their season goal total from last year with eight games still remaining in the season.

GC hosts #15 Marian on Saturday, September 27, at 3:00 pm.