Pride rally from down two for 3-2 road win over Benedictine

ATCHISON, Kan. - Playing in a highly contested, one-goal game for the second-straight year saw the Clarke University men's soccer team earn a 3-2 victory over Benedictine College on Saturday night.

The start to the game was everything the Pride did not want as they found themselves down 2-0 before 10 minutes had run off the clock in the first half as JJ Johannsen and Dylan Posada were able to score in the sixth and 10th minutes respectively for the Ravens to jump out 2-0.

Though that score would hold for about 25 more mintues into the first half, some timely subs for head coach Mike Paye paid off for the Pride as Bakari Mtende came off the bench and scored CU's first goal in the 35th minute to make it a 2-1 game at the half.

Both teams would settle in a bit starting the second half but CU controlled a bit of the pace and it paid off in quick goals about two minutes apart as Javier Fernandez, who assisted on Mtende's goal, was able to fire a deflected shot into the net to tie the game in the 54th minute then Lorran De Almeida broke the tie in the 56th minute off of a nice assist from Luke Persenico.

As expected, the game would get fairly physical down the stretch leading to a final tally of 26 fouls called just on the Pride and 37 total with Clarke also being booked five times to just one for the Ravens with all bookings coming as yellow cards.

Some of those fouls would lead to solid opportnities for Benedictine but Clarke goalkeeper Fernando Contreras was strong in net following the early goals allowed as he would make four total saves including a crucial one after CU had the lead to keep the score at 3-2 in the 87th minute.

The Pride will return home for their next two tilts as they will host Graceland University next Tuesday scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. CT start at Burrows Field before a Homecoming matchup with MidAmerica Nazarene on Oct. 1.