West Palm Beach, Fla. | Warner Men's Soccer played their second-round match of the NAIA National Tournament this morning against third ranked Keiser University at their house and took the win 2-1 handing the Seahawks their first loss of the year.
The Knights new from the very beginning this would be a tough physical match against a perennial contender, and it very much lived up to the billing especially early on. Keiser was able to create great opportunities to score the entire game putting crazy pressure on the Knights side of the pitch due to their size. The Seahawks were able to physically gain position, and the Knights had to rely on their stellar defensive discipline to keep Keiser off the board. The game went to the half knotted up at zero.
Out of halftime, the Knights started to see themselves turn up the offensive pressure, keeping the ball on the Keiser end more than they had in the first half. This pressure paid off in a big way in the 51st minute when Warner Pacific was able to find the back of the net. It was Bryan Carmona who buried the shot for his fifth goal of the season. This shot was off of a Keiser defensive header that made its way to Carmona's foot who then fired it to the right side of the goal,putting it in. This was only the ninth goal allowed by the Seahawks this season. Unfortunately, only about ten minutes after the Knights took a 1-0 lead, the Seahawks answered back with a goal of their own on a little dribbler of a shot taken by Sergio Padin. It seemed as if Knights keeper Owen Purvis had his vision blocked by people in front of the net and wasn't really able to see the ball and try to make a play on it.
With about 15 minutes to go in the 75th minute, the Knights were able to draw a foul inside the box on Keiser awarding Warner the most important penalty kick in program history. Bodo Calderon stepped up to take it already having made nine out of 11 penalty kicks. The senior calmly stepped up and knocked it in beating Keiser's Nebot Santiago giving the Knights a 2-1 lead. This marked the first time Keiser had given up more than one goal in a contest. The rest of the contest was about as frantic as 15 minutes of soccer you will ever see. The Seahawks blitzed the Knights with a barrage of shots. Keiser shot six shots in the last few minutes of the game, including one that hit the post. Finally with about 20 seconds left, Keiser fouled the Knights awarding a free kick to WPU and that was all the she wrote.
The Seahawks outshot the Knights on an impressive clip 27-7 and on shots on goal, Keiser once again dominated 10-2. The two shots were all the Knights needed though to move on to the next round.
Next Up
The Knights with this improbably win will now move on to the final site of the NAIA Tournament. They will play 7th ranked LSU Shreveport down at the Orange Beach Sportsplex in Orange Beach, Alabama. The date for this game will either be December 1st or December 2nd. Follow Knights Athletics on social media as well as our website for updates.