Lancers falter for first time this season

By Press release submission

Oct 21, 2022

Grace's men's soccer came up just short in a battle of top-10 teams, falling to No. 9 Bethel 2-1 on Saturday afternoon.

Saturday's contest was also a battle between the top-two teams in the Crossroads League, with Grace (8-1-5, 3-1-2 CL) and Bethel (13-1-1, 6-0 CL) sitting atop the conference standings.

It is the first time that the Lancers have lost this season, after setting a new program record for an unbeaten streak to start a season at 13 games.

Both teams started off slow offensively, with each team managing just one shot apiece through the first 20-minutes of action.

Diogo Lopes had a try on goal after a Lancers' corner kick, but his shot was stopped short of goal by the Pilot goalie.

The physical play between the two top programs drew a pair of yellow cards and 13 total fouls in the first half.

The Lancers had one last chance on goal late in the first half courtesy of Francesco Papa, but once again Grace was denied the goal as the game entered the half still scoreless.

Grace had three shots by the intermission, compared to four for Bethel.

After the first 63-minutes of the game passed scoreless, Bethel would jump out to a two-goal lead in the blink of an eye. The Pilots drew first blood 18-minutes into the second half and doubled their lead 2:18 later.

Down a pair of goals for just the second time this season, Grace regained their composure and began to press for their first marker of the game.

The Lancers had a trio of corner kicks and Daniel Santos Rosa had a shot on goal but Grace was unable to solve the Pilot keeper.

With under five-minutes left Martim Sequeira carried the ball down the right side of the field and sent a dangerous cross into the box. Before the ball could find the foot of an attacking Lancer a Bethel player tried to clear the ball from danger, but inadvertently put the ball in his own net.

Grace tried to muster one last charge as they sought to find the equalizing goal, but ran short of time as they suffered their first defeat of the season.

Grace was out shot in the game 11-5 but held a 9-5 corner advantage. Matteo Conci made four saves in the start.

The Lancers will have a week off before traveling to Taylor for a 6 p.m. kickoff next Saturday.