WICHITA, Kan. -- Despite allowing the Falcons to produce a pair of leads in the contest, the John Brown University men's soccer team leveled the match twice and rode a Kendal Acuna header in the goal area late in the match to produce a 3-2 victory at Friends (Kan.) on Saturday (Sept. 10) afternoon at Adair-Austin Stadium.
Senior Oscar Carballo produced his second-consecutive two-goal brace, while senior Christian Marroquin dished out a pair of gorgeous assists to continue the Golden Eagles (3-0-1) four-match unbeaten streak to open the season.
While not needing to record a save, freshman Adam Tebbs relieved sophomore Kyle Hix in the 71st minute while the match was level at two apiece, and picked up his first collegiate victory in the process. Before Hix exited the pitch, he recorded three saves on five chances through 70 minutes.
While the Golden Eagles had the majority of chances and held a 7-5 margin in shots on goal, Friends (1-5-0) out-shot the visitors by a narrow 13-10 edge.
Sophomore Kendall Acuna broke the 2-2 tie with just under 18 minutes left in the contest off a dream cross from senior Jacob Zamarron in the right corner. The result of a broken play, it was Carballo's free kick that rattled the crossbar and swung to the right side that Zamarron tracked down to send back into the goal area for Acuna's second-career game-winning goal.
Friends nearly tied it before the match was over, however, as a free kick from the left flank was finished with a diving header from a Falcon, but he was ruled offside, negating the hosts' strongest chances at whittling back a result from John Brown.
After Friends took a 1-0 lead just 61 seconds into the match off a loose ball in the box, Carballo's fourth of the season knotted the match up at one when he tapped in the exclamation point after a fantastic passing play through the middle. Marroquin's feed out to the left side sprung sophomore Alejandro Ramirez, who closed in on goal from the left. As the keeper and defender closed in, a cheeky pass through the middle found Carballo wide open in front of an empty goal in the 12th minute.
Still tied at one each after the break, Friends recaptured the lead in the 52nd minute when Carlos Vidrio lofted in a goal from just beyond half field that caught the Golden Eagles by surprise.
Unwilling to allow a poor goal to prove the difference, JBU went back to work and tied the game at two with another tic-tac-toe passing play through the middle. This time senior Ivan Garcia played the ball through to Marroquin in the middle, who turned and slotted a pass through the back line to a breaking Carballo on the right side. Carballo took the pass and ripped a 15-yard blast to the left side of goal for his fifth of the season, breathing fresh life into John Brown.
Friends could only manage two shots – both off target – in the final 18 minutes of the match.
John Brown returns to Siloam Springs for a match with Ecclesia (Ark.) on Wednesday (Sept. 14) for a matinee contest, slated to kick off at 4 p.m. The match will air live on the SAC Sports Network.
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