KVNO News

UNO men’s soccer claim come from behind victory

By Brandon McDermott, KVNO News

August 31st, 2015

Junior forward Mark Moulton had eight shots in the 2-1 win against Pacific.

College soccer season is officially underway around the country. For the men’s team at the University of Nebraska at Omaha it began Friday night with a 2-1 win against the University of Missouri at Kansas City.  The Mavericks were back in action Sunday as they took on the University of Pacific.

Omaha, NE – An overcast day Sunday didn’t stop the University of Nebraska at Omaha men’s soccer team from coming out fast and fierce in their game with Pacific.

In the opening half UNO held a 14-0 advantage in shots and 6-0 lead in corner kicks but the game was scoreless at the half. In the second half Pacific’s defense tightened up and the Tigers went up 1-0 on a Brian Im goal in the 56^th minute. UNO responded with the equalizer four minutes later and with two minutes remaining Logan Mendez scored. Mendez’ goal gave the Mavericks the 2-1 victory.

In the game, UNO was the faster team, with crisper passes and they were the less hesitant than Pacific.
Pacific also played Friday night in a 2-1 loss to Drake in Des Moines. UNO head coach Jason Mims says his team played two games in less than 48 hours, a nearly impossible task for any team.

“It’s something the NCAA has to change it’s not possible to ask you know these college guys the come back and put the same kind of effort in on a Sunday as Friday,” Mims says. “You have to rely on depth and right now early in the season you don’t really have a lot of depth because kids are still learning and kids are still trying to get better.”

Mims says going forward this is something that may need to be fine-tuned to give all teams, particularly those with less depth, a fighting chance. As for the team, Mims says one clear leader is junior co-captain Mark Moulton.

“Mark is UNO soccer, off the field and on it. Everything I expect from a UNO student-athlete, Mark represents that. I know I’m going to get 110 percent effort every single time.”

Moulton who scored an important goal in Friday’s game was all over the field in the Pacific game. He didn’t score a goal but did attack the Tigers defense to the tune of eight shots. Mims says Moulton is vital to UNO’s success in 2015. Mims also lauded the work of senior midfielder Logan Mendez who scored the game winner.

“We see it in practice every day he kills the ball, he absolutely kills the ball. But yet in games he gets in those positions and he’d rather pass so we’ve been putting a big emphasis on him ‘Logan you’ve got to shoot the ball.’ You could tell 60 yards away he had one thing on his mind he was going to go to his left foot and shoot the ball that’s what he did.”
Mendez gave all the credit to his teammates who he says fought hard after going down to Pacific early in the second half, but never stopped fighting.

“I was thinking I was going to go down the right and then I saw Kevin Correa our other forward was making a run and he brought a guy across and I saw make the run,” Mendez says. “Once he did that it opened up the space completely for me so doing that I naturally took him inside and then had a go and it went in.”

UNO opens the season with a 2-0 record for the first time in its young five year history. Up next for the Mavs is another two games within 48 hours this Friday night against UC Irvine and Sunday afternoon against Cal-State Northridge. Both games will be played at Caniglia Field on the campus of UNO.

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