PINEVILLE, La. – The Louisiana Christian University men's soccer team will bring some momentum into Red River Athletic Conference play by closing out the non-conference portion of the schedule with a 1-1 tie with the Blue Mountain Christian Toppers on Saturday afternoon at Wildcats Field.
The draw with Blue Mountain Christian (3-1-3) means Louisiana Christian (3-4-1) will enter RRAC competition next week having gone 3-1-1 over its last five matches.
LCU jumped onto the scoreboard first on a play that started with a set piece.
Juan Sierra lifted a corner kick towards the box and a Topper tried to clear the cross. However, the attempted clearance only made it as far as the back left corner of the 18-yard box where
Matej Motycka collected it and blasted a shot past the Topper goalkeeper for the 1-0 lead.
The Wildcats were able to hold that lead all the way to the last five minutes of the contest. In the 86
th minute, BMCU was awarded a free kick in a dangerous position and the Toppers took advantage by heading in the cross to equalize with the clock running low. Neither team could find a winner in the last four minutes-plus that remained following the BMCU goal.
Motycka's goal was his second of the season and came on his lone shot in the match.
Aran Hernández Vivar took three shots, putting all three on target.
Gustavo Varnier put up a pair of shots, though neither was on frame.
Gabriel Zuniga,
Ezra Williams, and
Jos Willms all joined Motycka as taking a shot in the contest and putting it on goal.
LCU took 11 total shots in the match, seven of which were on target.
Ricardo Gross (2-4-1) played all 90 minutes in net for the Wildcats in the match. He was credited with making four saves while conceding the one goal. Blue Mountain Christian took 13 shots in the match, five were on frame.
The Wildcats open RRAC action on Thursday as Southwest makes the trip from Hobbs, N.M. to Pineville. Kickoff of Thursday's match against the Mustangs (3-1-4) is set for 7:30 p.m. or about 30 minutes following the end of the women's match, which kicks off at 5 p.m. with both matches taking place at Wildcat Field.
