Forging Forward - Mside claws past Northwestern in wild GPAC semifinal

SIOUX CITY, IOWA – It had a little bit of everything.

Indeed, the Great Plains Athletic Conference semifinal between top-seeded and regular-season champion Morningside College and fourth-seeded Northwestern College gave fans in attendance a generous sampling of soccer facets Tuesday, April 13. A pair of own goals from the Northwestern College defense, a fantastic penalty kick save by reigning league Defensive Player of the Year Bjarne Huth (SO/Bad Vilbel, Germany) (Bad Vilbel, Germany), and in the end, what has been a regularity for Maroon fans in attendance at Elwood Olsen Stadium proved to be the difference.

Junior forward Okan Golge (JR/Cologne, Germany) (Cologne, Germany) worked a two-on-one chance near the visiting goal with sophomore forward Robin Thomala (SO/Wipshausen, Germany) (Wipshausen, Germany) as the match went into its final 10 minutes. As NWC net minder Ezekiel Foltz went out to try and bat away the ball, Golge slipped it neatly into the left corner for a 3-1 home team lead that had Mustangs fans approving in unison.

Head coach Tom Maxon and his staff would have probably preferred, along with the team, that the outcome had stayed that way. However, Northwestern proved resilient with standout offensive presence Juan Mackrey getting a corner kick off Matt Roll's foot that hit his head perfectly and sending it over Huth's outstretched hands to make the count 3-2. Mackrey, accounting for both visiting team scores, kept his teammates attacking until the final seconds when Thomala collected a loose ball and fired it into the night as the clock ticked down to zeroes.

Morningside, improving to 15-3-1, out-shot Northwestern 12-9 over the 90 minutes. Freshman Victor Beker (FR/Amsterdam, Netherlands) (Amsterdam, Netherlands) posted five tries, three of which were saved by Foltz. Huth finished with two saves of his own compared to the Red Raiders' keeper's five.

The Mustangs advance to the conference tournament championship, where they battle second-seeded and crosstown rival Briar Cliff University. Match time is 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 17, at Elwood Olsen Stadium.