Men's Soccer 9/22/2024 8:23:00 PM

Aggies erupt in 2nd half to claim league lead

Box Score By Kevin Farr
Murray State Sports Information
In a showdown for the conference lead, 7^th ranked Murray State shook off a sluggish start with a dominant second half to topple Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, 5-1, in men's soccer action on Sunday in Tishomingo.

The Aggies broke a 1-1 halftime deadlock with four second half goals as they stayed on the aggressive side while peppering the Norsemen defense with a bevy of additional opportunities.

Improving to 8-0 on the season, Coach Alex Morais' squad will take a week's break from league action but travel to Hill Junior College for an out of conference matchup on Tuesday for their next outing. Their next Region 2 matchup will be Tuesday, October 1 at home against Northern Oklahoma College-Enid with the start of the second half of the league slate.

"Most of the teams we have played have tried to stay back defensively and if we don't take some risks in attacking we can find ourselves in trouble and that's what happened in the first half," Morais commented. "I am proud of the guys for recognizing where the spaces were in the second half and we executed a lot better offensively. We should be able to see those holes and we got in behind them five or six times and probably should have had even more goals.

"It's all about adjusting the game plan on the fly to where we find success like we did today."

NEO came out the aggressor in the first half with an early opportunity that bounced off the crossbar on top of the goal. Murray State answered however with a heavy push into the offensive end and eventually cashed in when Gustavo Ursino punched through a goal in the game's 14^th minute following a nice Alberto De Miguel centering pass.

The visitors answered with a goal six minutes later that evened the score and that's the way the stalemate continued into the halftime break.

Looking much more crisp after intermission, Leo Aquino found the back of the net off a Nicolo Donadio assist with 34:56 left on the clock to give Murray State the lead for good.

The Aggies tacked on another score seven minutes later when Ryosuke Miyata cashed in a Ursino centering pass with a drive into the left side of the Norsemen net.

Alexis Lopez blasted through the first of two late goals in the game's 80^th minute with the assist credited to Philipp Federer. The same duo combined on the final score with just 14 seconds remaining with Lopez connecting from just in front of the goal.

Freshman Francisco Pinochet was solid in goal for Murray State, allowing just one goal on seven NEO shot attempts while making four saves.

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Players Mentioned

#9 Alexis Lopez: F; Sophomore

#7 Leo Aquino: F; Sophomore

#10 Ryosuke Miyata: M; Sophomore

#11 Gustavo Ursino: F; Freshman

#12 Francisco Pinochet: GK; Freshman

#15 Philipp Federer: F; Freshman

#17 Alberto De Miguel: D; Freshman

#18 Nicolo Donadio: D; Freshman

Players Mentioned

#9 Alexis Lopez
: Sophomore
: F

#7 Leo Aquino
: Sophomore
: F

#10 Ryosuke Miyata
: Sophomore
: M

#11 Gustavo Ursino
: Freshman
: F

#12 Francisco Pinochet
: Freshman
: GK

#15 Philipp Federer
: Freshman
: F

#17 Alberto De Miguel
: Freshman
: D

#18 Nicolo Donadio
: Freshman
: D