This past Friday, Oct. 18, the Union men’s and women’s soccer teams played Lee University at Smith Memorial Soccer Complex.
The women’s game started off the afternoon at 5 p.m. The Union women’s team came in with a record of 2-6 after a tough 1-0 loss to Delta State earlier in the week. Our Lady Bulldogs were looking to possibly pull off an upset of Lee’s Lady Flames who are currently ranked 15th nationally. After the first half of play, the match remained 0-0. To begin the second half, Union subbed in redshirt-junior, Anna Venckus, at goalie for freshmen Rylee Iorio. The game continued to trend in the same direction as the score stayed the same as it had been at kickoff. Although, in the 87th minute of action, Lee broke the scoring silence with a goal from Mallory Hayden.
The Lady Bulldogs played a marvelous match on defense, and they seek to continue that trend of defensive excellence on Sunday, Oct. 20, against Shorter University.
The men’s game kicked off at 7:15 p.m., bringing colder temperatures with it. Although, the cold weather did not put a damper on goal-scoring. In the 22nd minute, Mats Fredriksen scored his first career goal to start the Bulldogs off with a 1-0 lead. Shortly after, Lee University responded with a goal from Jared McWhorter in the 35th minute. A mere 30 seconds later, sophomore James Jackson scored another goal to put Union back up by one, 2-1. The score remained the same until after halftime when Willy Valencia, who had assisted on both of the previous Bulldog goals, scored his own goal in an impressive fashion. Valencia beat out his defender and fired off an “upper-90” rocket to give Union a comfortable 3-1 lead in the 55th minute. Lee University made an effort to come back at the end with a goal in the 89th minute by Riley Indermuehle, but it was not enough.
With the win over Lee, Union improves to 5-5 on the year with a 3-4 record in conference play. The Bulldogs hope to extend their winning streak on Sunday against Shorter University.
Photo courtesy of UU Athletics