Grand Junction, Colo. – The shot attempt totals may not have looked pretty for the Jimmies, but the final result was nothing to be ashamed of as the University of Jamestown men's soccer team played the Colorado Mesa Mavericks to a 2-2 draw in their first road game Thursday night.
"Again, the response from the boys was top class," said head coach
Justin Gilfert. "From how we started to fighting for each ball was completely night and day. Elevation definitely brought a new factor to the game, but the boys pushed until the end."
The Jimmies stay undefeated with their record now sitting at 0-0-3. The Mavericks finish their third game of the season at 0-1-2.
Colorado Mesa opened the scoring quickly with James Maxwell putting one into the back of the Jamestown net just 3:33 into the game.
Following the goal, the Mavericks launched shots on the Jimmies net and continued to do so throughout the game. Most of them were off target, though
Valon Ismaili did have to make a save in the 12
th minute.
Justin Junaid had the first Jamestown shot attempt in the 19
th minute that hit the top woodwork with the home team surviving a bit of a scare.
Late into the first half, Ismaili was active again with a barrage of Maverick shots coming his way between the 39
th and 43
rd minutes and the netminder making two more saves. With 21 seconds remaining,
Nuutti Norhomaa had the first Jamestown shot on goal and second shot attempt of the game.
The opening 45 minutes wrapped up with Colorado Mesa holding a significant advantage in shots at 15-2, though only four were on net. The Jimmies fended off four corner kicks in the first half.
Much like they did in the first half, the Mavericks were pouring on shot after shot to begin the second half. The hosting team had five shots in the first six minutes; one was blocked and the other four missed the net.
After what seemed to be the billionth Jamestown goal kick of the match, the Jimmies slowly started to work the ball up the field around a third of the way into the second half. The grind proved useful as
Saif Ghodhbani connected with
Andrei Filho who scored the then game-tying goal in the 59
th minute.
With some big-time momentum now and the game tied 1-1, UJ put on some pressure with Filho finding the post on a shot less than two minutes after his goal. Ismaili made a save in the 63
rd minute, then it was back on the other end in the 66
th minute where Norhomaa found some twine as the Jimmies took a 2-1 lead despite shot attempts being 27-5 in favor of the Mavericks.
Unfortunately, though, this advantage was short lived as Jonah Elstad on Colorado Mesa side scored in the 69
th minute to tie the game back up heading into the final 20 minutes of the game.
Junaid, Norhomaa, and
Sohiab Bouika el Haddad Kaddour each had shots after Colorado Mesa's second goal, but none tested goaltender Nathan Beck. The Jimmies had their first corner kick of the game in the 86
th minute, then another 45 seconds later, but nothing results-wise.
The Mavericks ramped up the pressure in the final few minutes with Ismaili needing to make three saves to keep the game tied 2-2. The final buzzer sounded with a combined four goals and another tie for Jamestown.
"Another result, and we had the win in our sights but a slight misjudgment and we concede another goal," said Gilfert. "But to draw another RMAC team who is always a playoff contender was a top performance from us."
Filho and Norhomaa both had their first goals of the season. The goal-scoring duo also combined for five of the eight shot attempts in the game as well as all three shots on net. Ghodhbani got into the point column as well with his first assist of the season. Ismaili had his second-straight 10-save game, allowing two goals on 12 shots faced (.833 save percentage).
Shot totals were lopsided with Colorado Mesa attempting 33 to UJs eight. Shots on goal were won 12-3 by the Mavericks and the home team also had a 7-2 advantage in corner kicks.
The Jimmies will look to get their first win of the season as they head west of Grand Junction on Saturday, September 5 as they take on the Westminster Griffins at 1 p.m MDT (2 p.m. CDT).
