(Mesa, AZ) The Park University Gilbert men’s soccer team tied visiting Antelope Valley 1-1 at Legacy Sports Park. The Bucs record moves to 3-6-4 overall and 3-3-3 in the California Pacific Conference play. The Bucs are currently in a tie for the last playoff spot with 12 points with three games remaining.
The Buccaneers jumped out to a 1-0 lead 29 minutes in on a penalty kick by Konstantin Papanikolaou after he was fouled in the goal box. The goal was Papanikolaou’s third of the season.
UAV answered back 12 minutes later with four minutes remaining before half time with a goal by Josue Celio with the assist going to Alexis Rangel.
That would be all of the scoring this game would see, but there would be opportunities and drama in the second half.
Two minutes into the second stanza Antelope Valley’s Edwardo De Los Santo was given a red card and ejected from the game after getting too physical with a Park Gilbert player. This left the Pioneers one man short for the last 43 minutes of the game.
Despite this handicap, UAV played virtually step-for-step with the Bucs. Park had seven shots in the half, UAV had six. Both teams had three shots on goal.
Antelope Valley made two goalkeeping changes in the second half. Starting goalie Joshua Rojo was pulled at halftime in favor of William Coyt. But 16 minutes into the second half, Coit was injured and had to come out and Rojo returned.
Papanikolaou and Magnus Mesters had three shots each and put half of those on goal. Ashton Owen also had two shots on goal.
The Buc men have three key conference matchups down the stretch as they make one final push for their first conference tournament bid. It starts this Saturday morning in Pasadena, Calif., against Providence Christian. The Bucs then return to Arizona to take on Benedictine Mesa in a “road game” hosted by the Redhawks at Legacy Sports Park where BENU also plays its home games. Then the Buccos finish the regular season with a home contest against Embry Riddle on Thursday, April 26.
Press Release courtesy of Park University Athletics – Preston English
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