MILLIGAN, Tenn. – The Milligan University men's soccer outfit hosted the Johnson University Royals on Wednesday evening, looking to get back into the win column. Following a scoreless first half, the Buffs scored two goals in less than four minutes during the second, and they held on for the eventual 2-1 Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) victory on Anglin Field.
In the first half, a total of 11 shots were taken, as the Royals had the first genuine scoring chance in the fourth minute of the game on a shot saved by
Sergi Cruz. In the 14
th minute, the Buffaloes had an opportunity on a header from distance off a corner, but the length of the attempt from
Edgar Milligan proved to be too far away to legitimately test the keeper. Two more shots on net by MU, along with one additional stop made by Cruz, rounded out the opening frame with no score.
A genuinely fascinating trend for the Buffaloes continued on Wednesday, as they scored both of their goals in the second half, meaning that they have now scored 21 second-half goals this season, while only notching a single first-half tally all year. In the 55
th minute on Wednesday, likely the most beautiful goal you will see this season—from a team buildup standpoint—was tallied by the Buffaloes.
Freddie Zinn fed a pass against the grain through the top of the box, where
Marco Lattanzi faked as if he was going to play the pass and allowed the ball to travel through his legs to
Grayson Hammond, who promptly blasted a shot to the top-left corner of the net to make it 1-0. Just a few minutes later, in the 58
th, Lattanzi would score his 11
th goal of the campaign after receiving a feed from Zinn. The left-footed shot traveled along the ground to the bottom-right corner and gave Milligan a 2-0 lead. The late stages of the tilt were stressful for the Buffaloes, as they allowed a goal in the 82
nd minute to cut the lead to just a single goal at 2-1. The MU defense stepped up, holding that lead for the remainder of the battle to earn their seventh victory of the season, overall.
By the conclusion of the contest, Johnson had tallied a 17-10 shot advantage in the box score, with many of those coming after the Buffaloes reached their 2-0 lead. The shot-on-goal tally showed Milligan with a 7-6 edge, though. Both of Lattanzi's shots taken in the win were on frame, with one being saved and the other resulting in the eventual game-winning goal. Hammond and
Noé Bandi each took a pair of shots, with one apiece ending up on frame. Hammond's ended up in the net, while Bandi's was saved.
Louis Folly-Castay, Milligan and
Trotter Jones all took one shot that was stopped by the JU keeper, and
Enol Morán attempted one shot, which was blocked.
It looked as if Cruz would earn his third clean sheet of the season until the Johnson goal late, but Cruz improved his season record to 6-2-2 with his five-save performance on Wednesday evening.
After the triumph, the Buffaloes (7-2-2, 4-2-1 AAC) have a Saturday off from AAC play, but they will fill that open date with a makeup of their non-conference early-season cancellation against Campbellsville (Ky.) on Oct. 10 at 1 p.m. in Campbellsville, Ky.
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