Columbia, Mo. – This afternoon the Columbia College men's soccer team was back on the field when they played host to Kansas Wesleyan University in a nonconference matchup. The Cougars, who suffered two tough 1-0 losses last week, were able to defeat the Coyotes by a final score of 3-0 to get back on track. With the win, Columbia improves to 2-2 on the season.
In the first half of the game, both sides came out and created several scoring opportunities early. The Cougars looked very sound defensively and were able to take advantage of the counter attack throughout most of the first half. Columbia's best chance of the first half came with 16 minutes to go when the Cougars were able to counter the Coyotes after a corner kick. Michael Mayberry received the ball on the wing before making a run down the sideline and played a cross to Adam Du Toit who was able to get a head on the ball but pushed it just wide to keep the score tied at zero. Columbia College outshot the Coyotes 6-5 in the half.
The Cougars came out of the locker room and attacked Kansas Wesleyan relentlessly as they hit the post twice in the first 10 minutes of the second half. They were finally able to put the ball in the back of the net with 31 minutes remaining in the game when the Cougars earned a free kick just outside the box. Aaron Noel took the kick for Columbia and played a ball into the center of the box where it hit a Coyote defender and bounced into the back of the net to give Columbia a 1-0 lead.
The Cougars continued to control the pace as the half progressed and were able to add to their lead just a minute later when Cameron Durst received a ball near the sideline and played a ball to the back post. Joey Koetting was there to put a head on the cross from Durst and floated it over top of the keeper and into the corner of the net to give Columbia a 2-0 lead. The Cougars added one final goal with six minutes remaining in the game when Brett Bales received a ball at the top of the box before playing a give and go to Joey Koetting and then knocked it past the Kansas Wesleyan keeper to solidify the 3-0 victory.
Nicolau Neto was in goal for the Cougars as the senior made four saves in his second shutout of the season.
Columbia College is back in action on Saturday, September 9th when they travel to McPherson, Kansas, to take on McPherson (Kan.) College in their final nonconference matchup before entering conference play. The game is set to start at 3 p.m.
