The Cougars (7-4-1, 1-2-1 AMC South) took a 1-0 lead with five minutes left in the first half when freshman defender Kemar Jackson (left) took a pass from senior midfielder Adam Pelak and scored the first goal of his career for the early lead.  Senior forward Steven Lesmes was also credited with an assist on the play.

The score remained that way until midway through the second half when Jason Massie scored on a penalty kick for the Redmen (7-4-0, 3-0-0 AMC South) to knot the score at 1-1 in the 68th minute.

Just over a minute later, though, MVNU regained the lead 2-1 when junior defender Zach Patterson (below right) converted a penalty kick opportunity of his own put the Cougars back in front.

However, Rio Grande battled back to equalize in the 78th minute when Darren Griffiths took a pass from Paul Nicholson and found the back of the net to make it 2-2.

The match appeared to be heading to overtime until Ederson Lopes gained control of the ball around midfield and raced towards the goal where he shot and scored to give the Redmen their first lead of the match 3-2 with less than three minutes remaining.

That would prove to be the final score in the physical match that featured numerous cards, the ejection of a Rio Grande player, and nearly 40 total fouls.

“Tonight’s match was just a tremendous battle and I was proud of the way that our guys stuck it out for 90 minutes and played and competed,” said MVNU head coach Paul Furey. “People will look at the score and think that we did a good job to just stay close, but really I feel that this is a match that we should have won. We did so many things well tonight.”

“In the closing minutes, we didn’t do what we needed to do in order to hold on for the victory,” Furey added. “It definitely wasn’t because a lack of effort or heart because we played tremendously for 90 minutes. I just feel bad for our guys who gave so much in this match and yet we came up short in the end.”

The Cougars held a 6-3 edge in corner kicks, while Rio Grande held a 14-5 edge in total shots. Sophomore goalkeeper Alex Stout posted five saves for MVNU, while Ray Nicaise stopped three shots for the Redmen.

“So many guys played well tonight,” said Furey. “Our back line did a superb job and Alex made some great saves for us in goal. Up front, Rockey and Sheldon really created some things for us. Kemar’s goal was a great goal. We talked about how we needed that and it really lifted us. It’s just a shame that we didn’t hold on to the lead that we had.”

The Cougars will look to bounce back on Tuesday when MVNU will host Cincinnati Christian University in a non-conference match that is slated to get under way at 4:00 p.m. at Cougar Field.