NIAGARA UNIV. — The Purple Eagles men’s soccer team returned to Niagara Field Saturday night to start a stretch with three of four games on home field. The visiting Iona Gaels spoiled the homecoming, as Mbongeni Tshuma scored for Niagara but Iona came out on top by a score of 3-1.
The Purple Eagles and Gaels contested possession back and forth for the first 10 minutes. Bautista Pedezert registered the first shot of the game just before the 10-minute mark, but missed high. Navid Rahman and Saiaz Saenz each had shots on goal denied by Iona’s Julian Petrello as the game approached the 24th minute. On the next rush back, it was Iona who took a 1-0 lead. Daniel Huertas played a ball into the Niagara box for Marcos Nunez, who beat Steve Casey bottom-right.
Each side had two more shots in the final 20 minutes of the first half, but neither found the mark.
In the 61st minute, the Gaels doubled their lead off a goal by Teddy Forson. Oscar Gonzalez beat a Niagara defender in the box to find Forson for the goal. Niagara got back within one with Mbongeni Tshuma’s second goal of the season in the 76th minute. Mackenzie Roach headed a ball in the box back out to Tshuma, and he hammered a shot home to the far side past Petrello. Iona reclaimed the two-goal lead for good at the 83rd minute. Huertas picked up his second assist of the match, beating two defenders in the box and feeding Daniel Ocala for the score on a wide-open net.
After a road game Wednesday, Niagara wraps up the 2016 regular season with a pair of home matches. The Purple Eagles host the Manhattan Jaspers at 1 p.m. on Oct. 29 before welcoming Canisius for the annual Battle of the Bridge match and Senior Night on Nov. 2 at 7 p.m.
from PurpleEagles.com via IFTTT
