Thresher soccer splits Tabor derby matches
The Bethel women lose 5-0 while the men extend their unbeaten streak to seven contests.
On Wednesday night, the Bethel soccer teams took on Tabor. The women's team looked to get their first home conference win. The men's team looked to keep their unbeaten streak of six games alive.
The Bethel women, still battling with some crucial injuries in their squad, were the first to take on the Bluejays. Regaining Jazlyn Reese from injury, they had hopes of getting in the win column again.
Bethel started well in the first 15 minutes of the game, swinging the ball back and forth through the backline. It wouldn’t be enough as Tabor jumped out in front in the first 16 minutes of the half.
“We looked to have the possession of the ball very well in the first half limiting their danger,” said senior Claire Hedlund from McPherson.
The Threshers kept swinging the ball, avoiding any Bluejay danger. Tabor striked one more time with 10 minutes remaining in the first half. The Bluejays would take a 2-0 lead into halftime despite the Threshers keeping possession of the ball for most of the half.
Bethel looked to stop Tabor coming out of halftime, but couldn’t do enough as they scored three unanswered goals to bring their lead to 5-0 and to get the win against the Threshers. This brings Bethel’s record to 5-7-1 and 1-6-1 in the conference.
“We lacked maybe being a little bit dangerous and that kind of punished us at the end,” said head coach Ignacio Milla.
The Bethel men’s team would get its game going quickly as they struck within the first three minutes. Senior Mussawir Ahmed found the back of the net as he received a pass from freshman Filip Maksimovic.
Having the wind against them in the first half, the Threshers kept the ball on the floor. Tabor could not get anything going for them in the first part of the half. With 15 minutes left in the half senior Louis Etienne found the back of the net as he was assisted by freshman Mihajlo Jankovic.
Tabor responded two minutes later with a goal of their own. The contest score would be 2-1 going into halftime. The message at halftime was to take it one half at a time. The boys came out into the second half by playing with the possession.
The second half took a turn as senior goalkeeper Sean Holness received a red card. This forced the Threshers to play with ten men for the rest of the second half. Bethel would like to be compact in the middle and keep the possession away from Tabor.
“It was a really good game in terms of how we managed the situation and how we didn’t panic,” said senior Cristobal Goldberg from Santiago, Chile. “We were able to still get the results after getting that red card.”
With 10 minutes remaining in the second half, Maksimovic found the net once again for the 14th time this season to put Bethel up at a comfortable 3-1 lead.
“I strongly believe that we are being very unified in the locker room, but Wednesday's game confirmed all my small doubts,” said head coach Luka Milicevic. “Going down a man is never easy, but the way our guys performed and the way they fought was admiring.”
Tabor brought the game to within one goal four minutes later but Bethel would see out the rest of the game, bringing the final score to 3-2 and giving Bethel the win. The Threshers improved to 5-3-5 and 4-1-3 in conference.
Both teams will host Ottawa on Saturday for Fall Fest. The scheduled kickoff time for the women's game is 11 a.m. with the men's kickoff right after at 1:30 p.m.