LACEY, Wash. - A devastating defensive miscue ended up being the decider in the match today between the University of Mary Men's Soccer team and Saint Martin's University.
 
The Marauders (3-13-1, 2-11-0 GNAC) gave up an own goal in the early portion of the first half with the Saints (5-11-1, 4-9-0 GNAC) ended up holding on for the 3-2 win with U-Mary trying to overwhelm Saint Martin's late in the second half.
 
Saint Martin's fired off the first shot of the match in the seventh minute, but Mitch Taveira was there to make the save and initiate the counterattack that led to Jordan Pearce taking a shot on goal in the 10th minute. Nick Rosato made the save for the Saints and the match appeared to be a constant tug-of-war between the squads with neither taking a shot for the next five minutes.
 
The own goal came about in the 15th minute after a miscommunication on the back line led to the ball caroming off Adam Potter's knee and sneaking past Taveira to give the Saints a 1-0 lead.
 
Saint Martin's took four more shots by the 36th minute and Taveira was determined to not let another goal slip by as he saved every single one of them, but a corner kick from Kaleb Strawn was knocked in by Derrick Gonzales that extended the Saint's lead to 2-0 late in the first half.
 
The Marauders struggled to put their shots on target as Saint Martin's blocked two in the half with Rosato saving another in the 20th minute and U-Mary had to face a 2-0 deficit going into the break.
 
U-Mary started finding the right combination early in the second half as Jordan Pearce and Aaron Brenna fired off a shot on goal each by the 53rd minute, but not before Rosato again made the save on both attempts. Saint Martin's added the third goal to their total in the 59th minute after Gonzales took a free kick attempt that landed just in front of the net and Kyle Witzel finished off the attempt with his seventh goal of the season for a comfortable 3-0 lead.
 
The Marauders finally broke through the defensive front starting in the 69th minute when André Almqvist headed a pass from Brennan beyond the outstretched hands of the keeper to get his team on the board at 3-1 late in the half. U-Mary took two more shots by the 78th minute and James Liddiard found that third times' a charm when he took a cross from Brennan and snuck a shot past the keeper once again to cut the lead down to 3-2.
 
Unfortunately, U-Mary only managed one shot throughout the remainder of the match, as Pearce's attempt was off target in the 90th minute and the Marauders had to leave the stadium with a sour taste after the score became final at 3-2.
 
As a team, the Marauders took 17 shots total, nine on goal, as Jordan Pearce led the way with eight attempts and three on goal.
 
Despite the early gaffe, Mitch Taveira ended up with six total saves on nine shots faced and had to contend with three corner kick attempts from the Saints.
 
The Marauders will finish out the regular season next week when they travel to Billings, Mont., to take on Montana State University-Billings starting at 4:00 PM.
 
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