Jamestown, N.D. – There were penalty kicks, there were replay reviews, there was spectacular tending of the goal by
Valon Ismaili, but no goals scored as the Jamestown men's soccer team played a thrilling contest against the Morningside Mustangs Thursday that ended in a scoreless tie in front of a packed Charlotte & Gordon Hansen Stadium.
Freddie Tomkinson had Jamestown's first shot on goal early in the first half and then late in the 35
th minute, had a great open look off a Jimmies corner that went just high. The Mustangs had four shots in the final few minutes, but Ismaili was a brick wall with four saves in the first half.
Shots on goal were 4-1 in favor of Morningside at the break with the score notched at 0-0.
Action really picked up in the second half with three quick shots from the Mustangs, followed by a couple of off-target misses by
Josh Jackson and Nuutti Norhomaa.
Norhomaa was right at the center of the action with around 25 minutes left to play as well. The Finland native beat everyone on the Mustangs to a loose ball right inside the Morningside 18-yard box. Norhomaa got taken down from behind, and after an extensive review, UJ was awarded a penalty shot. However, the shot taken by Jackson was just a hair high as the scoreless tie continued.
Morningside had another great opportunity around two minutes after, but Ismaili broke it up and forced a frazzled shot to miss the left post by a few feet.
The Mustangs continued to apply some pressure after the missed penalty, with several more nice looks at the net and Jamestown struggling to get the ball up the field.
With 16 minutes remaining, Jamestown committed what appeared to be a handball in their own box, but the referees looked at the replay, conferred with each other, and waved off the Mustangs chance at a penalty shot.
Down to four minutes, Jamestown drew a foul right outside the Morningside box, but a shot immediately off the free kick by
Sohiab Bouika el Haddad Kaddour sailed high of the target.
Morningside amped up the pressure again in the final couple of minutes and Mengistu Schmidt, who has scored the only Mustangs goal of the season up to this point, got himself free on a ball sent towards the Jamestown net. Schmidt drew a foul on a pursuit of the ball inside the Jimmies box, and this time there was no question among the officials that Morningside should be awarded a penalty shot with 2:50 remaining on the second half timer.
The penalty kick attempted by Bennet Buchwald was placed mid-left, but Ismaili read Buchwald, dived to his right, and reached out with his hands to deflect the ball wide as the Jimmie faithful roared at what was Ismaili's eighth save of the night.
The Jimmies fended off two more corner kicks in the final few seconds, and the buzzer sounded in an entertaining 90-minute-long scoreless draw.
Tomkinson's shot on goal in the first half was the only one of the game for the hosting side. Jackson had two shot attempts, but both missed. For Morningside, Maris Rombeck led the team with three shots and two on net. Buchwald came off the bench to place both his shots on target.
The Mustangs put up substantially more shots than the Jimmies (20-6), including winning the shots on goal battle 8-1. The Mustangs had five opportunities on corner kicks while the Jimmies had four.
Ismaili was the star of the show for Jamestown with eight saves to start the season, giving the Germany native his first shutout in the Orange and Black. Hernan Burdiles was active but only had to make one save in the game.
Jamestown men's soccer will be back in action with as they host South Dakota Mines at Charlotte & Gordon Hansen Stadium on Monday, August 31 at 12 p.m.
