PORTLAND, Ore. – The Multnomah University men's soccer team fought a tough battle against the Mountaineers of Eastern Oregon on a rainy field at Madison High School on Friday night, conceding an early goal in the second half before falling 0-2 to the visitors in the closest match of the year.
 
The Lions defense held strong in the first half while the offense showed signs of life, getting off five shots in the opening period. Eastern's offense eventually proved to be too much as the loss drops MU to 0-10 on the season and 0-7 in Cascade Collegiate Conference play.
 
This marks the second win for the Mountaineers over MU this year after these teams met in a nonleague game at the beginning of the year. EOU will move to 3-6, 2-5 CCC.
 
How It Happened: MU opened the game on the offensive side of things, getting off the first shot of match, a 20-yard attempt by Austin McKee that hit the upper corner of the crossbar. Both teams continued to go back and forth, with Eastern earning the advantage in shots at 10-5 in the first half. Both goalies also ended the period with two saves.
 
Five minutes into the second half of play, the Mountaineers finally broke through with a cross on the ground that was tapped in by EOU's Fredy Rodriguez. Roughly seven minutes later, EOU furthered their lead with shot in box by Alex Gutierrez from 10-feet out.
 
Eastern ripped off 22 shots in the second half alone by Lion's keeper Manny Guillermo had an answer for almost every shot, coming up with 15 saves to total the second highest amount of saves in a game at 17.
 
With time running down and MU eager to get on the scoreboard, MU's Michael Kochis took a misplaced ball by the Mountaineers within 15 feet of the goal but was unable to find the back of the net as Eastern's Alfedo Lara came up with the save.
 
The two goals allowed was the lowest goal total allowed by the Lions in two seasons of play, and their eight shots was the highest amount in any Cascade Conference match.
 
From the Coach: "We had a great end of the week of practice, and that played out tonight," said head coach Tom Stephens. "We played as a team for 90 hard minutes, played fantastic team defense and gave our offense several good scoring opportunities. Manny also played another phenomenal game in goal."
 
By the Numbers: Kochis led the offense for the Lions tallying four shots with three landing on goal as Juan Candido and McKee each had two. Guillermo's 17 saves was the most recording by a Lions team since Robert Kochis totaled 22 saves in the opening game of the season against the Mountaineers.
 
For EOU, Gutierrez totaled a match high seven shots followed by Cristian Anguiano and Jesus Trejo who had five and four shots respectively. Alfredo ended the night with four saves.
 
Coming Up Next: The Lions continue their home stand as they prepare to host Warner Pacific tomorrow night at Portland Adventist Academy while Eastern will have a day of travel before playing Walla Walla on Sunday.