Grace Pitches Perfect
WINONA LAKE – There was an air of expectation for both Grace College soccer programs coming into Monday night. Neither did anything to disappoint. Both the women and men pitched shutouts Monday in a doubleheader against Rochester to open their 2019 campaigns.
GRACE WOMEN 3, ROCHESTER 0
From the start, Grace controlled possession and put pressure on Rochester from all angles of the pitch. That pressure eventually caved the Warrior defense in the 18th minute. Prancing down the touch line, JJ Aalbue sent in a chance that Joana Schimmel got behind and pushed a shot past Emily Swanker. At 1-0, the slim lead felt like much more given Grace already held a 5-0 shot advantage.
As Grace continued to swarm the Rochester defensive third, an advance into the box by Corinne Villalobos saw her pulled down, drawing a penalty. Cassidy Wasson finished the conversion for the 2-0 lead.
A 15-0 shot advantage in the first half gave evidence to Grace’s dominance of the first 45 minutes, and much continued in the second half.
“We just exploited spaces they gave us,” stated Grace women’s head coach Michael Voss. “We had 11 girls score three or more goals last year. I think we just want to exploit any space we’re given. I do think we have good pace on the roster this year, and we should use it when we need to, but we don’t always have to rely on it to get us on goal.”
The Lady Lancers ripped 17 more shots in the second half, and while its only goal was a penalty kick by Hannah Tkacz, Grace pinged three shots off the post, totaling 32 shots on the day.
On the other side of the field, Bethany Blackwell, last year’s NAIA leader in shutouts, only had two touches in the contest and one save to get her first clean sheet of the new season.
“We’ve brought in 16 new players and those 16 players really like playing the style that we play,” Voss said. “It’s easy for them to jump in and contribute in a positive way. I don’t think this was our best outing. But when you aren’t satisfied and you win 3-0, maybe you have something great and we’re above average at this point.”
The Lady Lancers hit the road on Saturday, playing at Shawnee State in the second game of the season.
GRACE MEN 3, ROCHESTER 0
The nightcap saw a similar rhythm to the contest, where wide open runs in the first half yielded goals, but the second half settled into a more defensive play.
Grace nearly got on the board just 80 seconds in the contest when a David Koch whistler off a corner whizzed just wide. The set piece would come back to reward Grace. A free kick in the 16th minute by Henrique Cerruti found the charging head of Ivan Santagiuliana for the banger and the 1-0 lead.
A beautiful combination up the gut of the Rochester defense had Marcelo Talamas lead Ulisses Miranda into space. Rather than attempting a shot through a wedging pair of defenders, Miranda sent a pass wide to Ze Maria Goncalves, who crushed his chance under the crossbar for a two-nil lead.
“I felt like we stuck to the gameplan early on and wanted to put the ball into their half of the field,” said Grace men’s head coach Arron Patrick, who won his first game as Lancer manager. “We kept the ball down their throat and tried to get them to show us what they had because we were able to win the second ball, it wasn’t a lot. For us, once the game settled down, we controlled the pace of the game.”
As fluid as the first half was for Grace, which outshot Rochester 9-2, the second half was much slower and tempo driven by the home side.
The play in the back by the Grace defense was impressive, notably the physical work both in defense and advancement by Kyle Smith and Cole Voss. While play was grinding down with the clock, Miranda gave Grace the exclamation point 13 minutes from time when a through ball found him alone behind the defense. A pair of touches and into the net sent Miranda into a rousing back flip and Grace well on its way.
“These games are difficult for defenses because of concentration,” Patrick said. “There was always a chance for something to break down because we had the ball the entire time. I felt like we defended really well with the ball. I would say we held about 80 percent of the possession, and that was something we worked on a lot in the preseason. In year’s past, we’ve struggled controlling the ball with a lead, and tonight we showed we can do that.”
Grace had 13 shots and eight on goal compared to seven shots and five on goal for the Warriors (0-1).
Colton Wottring picked up the win in goal for Grace, making three saves while playing the first 78 minutes. Gonzalo Salo, in his first appearance for the Lancers, finished the game in goal and made a save.
The Lancers remain at home on Thursday with a high-profile match at 1st Source Bank Field. Grace hosts No. 12 Georgia Gwinnett at 7 p.m. on Thursday.