CEDAR RAPIDS – Enrique Cortina scored two goals eleven minutes apart, and Mount Mercy University came back from a second half deficit to defeat the Iowa Wesleyan College men’s soccer team 3-2 Sunday afternoon at Lower Kingston Field.
The Tigers lost yet another close match, falling by one goal for the fifth straight match. This time IWC fell to a Mount Mercy team that is at the top of the Midwest Collegiate Conference, as the Mustangs improved to 5-0 in conference (12-2 overall) and held on to sole possession of first place by the narrowest of margins.
Wesleyan (2-9-1 overall, 0-4-1 MCC) put together a strong effort on the road, getting ahead of the Mustangs twice and also getting a terrific game from goalkeeper Troy Osborne (Jr.-Sydney, Australia). The Tigers took the lead in the 13th minute when Levor Henry (Sr.-St. Johns, Antigua) scored his fourth goal of the season, getting assists from Chris Matthews (So.-Toronto, Ontario, Canada) and Osborne for a 1-0 lead.
Mount Mercy answered just five minutes later as Petar Triva scored with an assist from Cortina to tie the game. The score stayed that way until halftime and into the 60th minute of the second half when Cody Nathan (Jr.-Newark, Calif.) scored his first goal of the season. Henry and Walton Ponce (So.-Muscatine, Iowa) both added assists and IWC had a 2-1 lead with 30 minutes to play.
The Mustangs responded quickly again, though, as Cortina scored in the 64th minute to again tie the game. Mount Mercy then scored what would be the game-winner, as Cortina got a pass from Gabe Rosales and got the ball past Osborne with 15 minutes remaining in the match for the Mustangs first and only lead of the match.
Osborne made a career-high 14 saves to keep the Tigers in it throughout as Mount Mercy had a 28-10 lead in shots, including a 16-3 bulge in the second half. Included in that was a 17-7 margin in shots on goal.
Henry led Wesleyan with five shots taken, three on goal. Cody Smith (So.-Mount Pleasant, Iowa) added two shots.
IWC will now wrap up the regular season with four straight home matches, starting Wednesday against nationally ranked Grand View University. The Tigers will face the 16th ranked Vikings at 3 p.m. in a Midwest Collegiate Conference match at East Lake Park.
Box score MMU 3 IWC 2
