University of Jamestown

Sioux City, Iowa – The University of Jamestown men's soccer team dropped a heartbreaking 3-2 contest to Briar Cliff University Wednesday afternoon after the Chargers rallied back down two goals.
 
Jamestown suffers their fifth defeat of the season with their record now at 1-5-3 while the Chargers move above .500 at 5-4-1.
 
To commence the game, the ball spent a few minutes in the Briar Cliff end of the field, then Jimmies survived two scary opportunities. The first was a long ball sent to the opposite end that would have resulted in a goal had the Charger not been accused of being offside. The second was a similar play about one minute later, but this time, Valon Ismaili, broke it up to preserve the scoreless tie.
 
Into the 14^th minute, Jamestown forced a turnover which led to a deep shot from Justin Junaid, but the England native's shot was quite high of the net. At the 28^th minute, Sohaib Bouika el Haddad Kaddour had a good crack on a free kick a couple of yards outside of the BCU box. The transfer from WVU Tech ripped a shot that was blocked by a big wall out in front then another shot that went high of the net.
 
Once again, into the 30^th minute, the front line of Jamestown got aggressive, and it paid off this time. Looking for a long ball on the left sideline, Nuutti Norhomaa jumped in front, blocked the pass, and went all alone the other way with it. Norhomaa's first shot was blocked by Chargers netminder Lucas Attanasio, but the ball deflected right back to him and he converted on his second attempt to open up the scoring in Sioux City.
 
Another ten minutes passed until Jamestown doubled their advantage. Around midfield, Junaid sent it across the field and a bit up the line to Jack Greenwood on the right side. Greenwood sent a bouncing ball perfect to Norhomaa cutting in from the middle of the field. Norhomaa did not have much time to get a shot off, so he one-timed it and it ended up to the right of Attanasio and into the twine for the Finland native's second goal of the game.
 
The first half ended 2-0 with total shots 7-4 in favor of BCU. Ismaili made three saves while the only two shots on net for Jamestown resulted in goals.  
 
Norhomaa almost had a hat trick in the 54^th minute when he broke free of the defense again. However, he was forced into a sharp-angled shot that clanked off the right post. Finley Comstock followed this up with another extremely dangerous shot which missed left in the 57^th minute.
 
Despite the early success on the UJ side, it did not last for much longer when Briar Cliff got on the board in the 64^th minute. After a stoppage in play, some nice passing lead to Angjelos Arapi scoring right in front of the net off a cross.
 
Using this momentum from their first goal, Briar Cliff was all over the Jimmies for the next few minutes. They had a free kick in a dangerous position, and several balls inside of the Jamestown box, however the Jimmies defense stood strong for the moment.
 
Kayden Zenk had a nice chance on another Jamestown transition opportunity in the 69^th minute, but BCU was right back on the attack after that. UJ needed to fend off a couple of more corner kicks and another free kick right outside the box as the Chargers looked for the equalizing goal.
 
With about 15 minutes left on the clock, the Jimmies kept the ball pinned into the Briar Cliff end of the field. Joshua Jackson and Bouika el Haddad Kaddour each put on a shot, and a couple of free kicks kept the ball on the Chargers end of the field.
 
Unfortunately, though, this did not last forever. Briar Cliff kept grinding away and eventually made the contest 2-2 on a very similar goal to their first tally. A cross from the left side of the box led to a wide-open shot about eight yards in front of the Jamestown net for a score.
 
With the game now tied again into the 85^th minute, Ismaili intercepted a cross attempt and punted it out towards midfield. Jamestown won the ball and got a 4v2 brewing. Norhomaa was about to score on the left side of the box, but the whistle blew and the Jimmies were called offsides just as Norhomaa got the ball past Lucas Attanasio and the game remained tied.  
 
Norhomaa had another shot in the 87^th minute, and then a corner kick, but nothing to show for it. The game-winner came with just 3:02 left to play. There was another cross from the left side of the Jamestown box that resulted in the third Briar Cliff goal as the Chargers were now only a few minutes away from notching a big rally.
 
In the closing minutes with Jamestown needing an answer, they got another good look. A corner kick lead to a open header by Santiago Zepeda though this shot went just high and to the left. The final buzzer sounded not longer after with the Jimmies defeated 3-2 in Sioux City.  
 
Norhomaa's two tallies give him five for the year as he is now accounting for over half the Jamestown goals on the season. Both Jack Greenwood and Justin Junaid got their first assists of the season in the loss while Ismaili made five saves in the effort.
 
Briar Cliff won total shots 18-11 and shots on goal 8-3. The Chargers got nine corner kick attempts while UJ had three.
 
The Jimmies will embark to the Pacific Coast on Saturday, October 3 when they will play at Saint Martin's University at 1 p.m. PDT (3 p.m. CDT).