Pensacola, FL— Despite leading 2-1 heading into the second half, our PCC Eagles men's soccer team was unable to come away with their elusive first victory of the 2018 season. Forward's Nick Standridge and Riley Buchalski provided the scoring for the Eagles while Paul Stewart and Kendall Mullenix each added an assist.

The Eagles headed into tonight's game searching for their first victory of the 2018 season. The game, scheduled for a 4:00 pm start time, was delayed nearly 4 hours due to rain and mechanical issues that plagued the Tornadoes trip to Pensacola. Despite the sloppy field conditions caused by the afternoon showers, the two teams kicked off at 7:55 pm. 

The team quickly took control in the early minutes of the game. The Eagles were able to move the ball around the field against an extremely fast Tornadoes midfield and defense. In the 24th minute, a nifty ball played through by Kendall Mullenix and Paul Stewart led to a Riley Buchalski goal and a 1-0 Eagles lead. 

The Eagles would strike again just 6 minutes later. A foul about 25 yards out on the right side of the field, game the Eagles a free kick opportunity from within scoring range. The left-footed Nick Standridge stepped up to take the free kick. As the goalie set up his wall, Nick Standridge ripped the ball into the upper right 90 of the goal to give the Eagles a 2-0 advantage over the Tornadoes. Despite trailing 2-0, the Tornadoes would continue to push the Eagles defense that found itself without Ben Grover who was serving a one game suspension due to a red card on Saturday against Georgia Southwestern.

Talladega College took 20 shots in the first period, forcing Eagles goalie Brent Konieczynski to make 9 saves in the first half. In the waning moments of the 1st half, a ball played through into the box landed on the foot of a Tornadoes forward. A flailing attempt by Brent Konieczynski led to a foul in the box and an ensuing penalty kick. Tornadoes midfield Matheus Severino calmly buried his shot to send his team into halftime trailing 2-1.

"We played very well in the first half," Head Coach Joseph Liwosz said after the game. "We controlled the ball and were able to move the ball around very effectively. This led to several goal scoring opportunities that we were able to convert on."

Heading into the 2nd half, the Eagles hoped to maintain their first half momentum. But, just 13 minutes into the 2nd period, the Tornadoes struck, adding their 2nd goal of the game and knotting the score up at 2-2 with 32 minutes remaining in the game. The Tornadoes would tack on another goal in the 66th minute to take their first lead of the game. 

Trailing by one goal, the Eagles found themselves looking at another early season defeat. The team struggled to create opportunities down the stretch against the speedy Tornadoes defense. Talladega College would go on to score two more goes in the final moments of the 2nd half to secure a 5-2 victory over the Eagles.

After the game Head Coach Joseph Liwosz was disappointed with the result. He said, "We played well in the first half tonight, but we got a bit too comfortable in the second half and didn't display the same intensity that we did at the beginning of the game."

In the loss, Riley Buchalski and Nick Standridge added a goal a piece while Paul Stewart and Kendall Mullenix each added an assist. The Tornadoes out-shot the Eagles 28-6 including 20 shots on goal. Goalie Brent Konieczynski record 11 saves in the losing effort.

With the loss, the Eagles fell to 0-5 during regular season play with a match-up against region foe Toccoa Falls College looming. The Eagles will hit the road this weekend when they travel to take on Toccoa Falls College on Friday and Faulkner University on Saturday. The team will hope to secure their first win of the season during the upcoming road trip.