Grace’s Felipe Gruber weaves through St. Francis traffic Wednesday evening. Photo provided by Grace College Sports Information

By Josh Neuhart
Grace College Sports Information

WINONA LAKE – Grace’s men’s soccer team dominated 88 minutes of its match against St. Francis on Wednesday night.

Unfortunately for Grace, the only goal of the night occurred in those other two minutes.

St. Francis scored on one of its two shot attempts in the 76th minute, edging out the Lancers 1-0 at 1st Source Bank Field.

The Lancers (2-3-2, 2-3-2 Crossroads League) seemed to have a vice grip on the match; Grace had well over 60 percent of the game’s possession time and a 16-2 advantage in shot attempts.

Additionally, Grace played Wednesday’s match with a significant shortage of field players on the bench as it returns to full strength.

But despite not playing with their full lineup, the Lancers controlled possession and pace of play for the entire first half.

The Cougars had zero first-half shots and seemed to chase the Lancers’ dribbling and passing wizardry.

Grace owned all seven shots before halftime and also had a 4-1 edge in corner kicks.

The Lancers seemed to have the most dangerous moments from their midfielders, including a challenging shot from Jules Peycelon that was saved.

TJ White tried three shots before halftime, directing play from his central midfield position.

But the Cougars’ defensive line remained stout, keeping their net unharmed and the match scoreless by halftime.

Grace began the second half with energy in pursuit of an early goal. Within a minute, Grace had earned a corner kick.

Not long after, a tremendous individual effort from Felipe Gruber nearly resulted in a goal, but Gruber’s strike glanced off the goalpost.

With 31 minutes left in the match, Jordan Jayapuram made a weaving run through the midfield only to see his shot deflected wide.

A minute later, Ulisses Miranda almost scored. The senior alertly stole the ball deep in USF’s end, but his shot was also parried wide.

Two minutes after that, Miranda did put the ball in the back of the net off a header. But he was whistled for a foul on the play as he rose for the header.

Grace continued to send wave after wave at USF’s net, but the Cougars found life with 15 minutes remaining in the match.

The Cougars earned their only corner kick of the second half in the 76th minute. Grace failed to clear the ball from its box, and USF capitalized on the scrum in the box for the game’s only goal.

Grace still had chances in the final 10 minutes to send the game to overtime. Miranda had a header that beat the goalkeeper but was saved off the goal line by a Cougar defender.

In the final two minutes, Jonny Mora had a golden chance that was also denied by a defender from crossing the goal line.

USF survived Grace’s final barrage of shots to secure the 1-0 shutout.

The Lancers are on the road Saturday for a 7 p.m. match at Mt. Vernon Nazarene.