Winona Lake, IN — It was a business-as-usual approach for the Goshen College men’s soccer team Tuesday afternoon at Mid-Central College foe Grace College, as the Leafs dispatched the host Lancers by a 2-0 score for its 10th win in the team’s last 11 matches. Goshen head coach Tavi Mounsithiraj said he was pleased there was no let down from his team following a week-long layoff after an enormous win over Bethel College last week (click here for article), as Goshen (10-4, 4-0) dominated every facet of play for its seventh shut out of the season.

“I thought we did a really good job of coming to Grace to play a very good Grace College side,” Mounsithiraj said. “Right off the opening whistle our plan was to come out and put a lot of pressure on the Grace side, and we were in the attacking mode right away. We came out playing very hard and that helped us.”

Goshen’s combination of juniors Tony Janzen and Nate Montiel along with sophomore Cody Felton provided fits for the Lancers up front, as just minutes into the game the Leafs’ had their first shot on goal. Goshen recorded a pair of corner kicks in the match’s first five minutes and collected three of its eight shots on goal in that span, but the Lancers were able to dodge the proverbial bullet with solid play in the defensive third.

The law of averages caught up with the hosts at the 35th minute, however, as again it was Janzen going to work. The rugged forward was able to dribble past several Grace defenders on the end line and slide a ball to junior Matt Yoder inside the six-yard box, and Yoder made easy work of the beautiful assist: Outrunning his marker, Yoder blasted a shot into the back of the net from point-blank range, giving the Leafs a 1-0 lead going into the intermission.

Complacency was not an issue for Mounsithiraj’s squad in the second half, as again the team maintained possession of the ball in the midfield and stifled any and all Grace attacks in the defensive third with few problems. Mounsithiraj’s team continued to push forward when given the opportunity, and in the game’s 71st minute those efforts were rewarded again. Receiving a nice through ball, Felton and Janzen made a collective run toward the Grace net, passing the ball back and forth until Felton tried a lob shot over the Grace keeper from about five yards out. The Lancer goalie was able to just get a finger on the ball, deflecting it over the crossbar for yet another Goshen corner kick.

Much like the Leafs’ go-ahead score in the Bethel game, again it was senior Joel Miller who came up big on the corner kick, taking classmate Jesse Woodworth’s send and heading the ball to the top of the goal, caroming it off the crossbar before it hit the ground and bounced into the top of the net for a 2-0 lead.

“Miller’s goal was almost identical to the game-winner against Bethel last week,” Mounsithiraj said. “Tony Janzen, Cody Felton and Nate Montiel did a great job of keeping the Grace defenders busy all day and the substitutes of (senior) Jesse Johnson, (junior) Benji Graber and (junior) Pete Koontz did a good job coming off the bench giving us some good minutes. As always, our defensive team was solid again getting our seventh shut out of the season.”

Goshen recorded 11 shots on goal to Grace’s four, and attempted eight corner kicks to the Lancers’ three. Senior Craig Welscott came up with four saves in goal, adding to his program-leading 27 career shut outs.

“This was a great effort from everyone on the team,” Mounsithiraj said. “We still have a lot of work to do ahead of us and we will continue to work hard to get ourselves in the best position possible for the conference tournament in November. Every game we play from now on is a tough one.”

The Leafs will return to the Goshen College Soccer Complex this Friday, when the team will host MCC rival Huntington University at 7 p.m. This game date is a change from the original schedule, as Goshen’s fall break precipitated Saturday’s original game day to be changed to Friday. Sadly, the schedule change will prohibit Friday’s match from being broadcast on 91.1 FM The Globe, as contractual obligations have Goshen’s on-campus radio station occupied during game time. The match was originally scheduled to be aired live Saturday night.