MARIETTA, Ga. --- After playing a less than ideal first 65 minutes, the Life University men's soccer team came alive, scoring four times over the final 25 minutes to secure the victory victory over Thomas More, 5-2, in the Mid-South Conference Tournament Opening Round today at Franklin Gateway Sports Complex.

In what was a tale of two halves, Life University (8-7-1, 5-5-1 MSC) came out of the gate slowly, letting Thomas More (5-10-2, 3-8-0 MSC) control the tempo of the game through the opening half. The Saints recorded the first goal of the game in the 13th minute, having already put three balls on frame at that early point in the contest. The Running Eagles kept themselves in the game a couple minutes later, Matteo Olivotto taking a free kick from just outside of the penalty area which he booted into the upper right corner of the net to tie the game 1-1. The Saints continued to keep pressure on the Life U defense, but goalkeeper Fabian Pekruhl did an excellent job of keeping balls out of the net, collecting five first half saves to keep the game 1-1 going into the break.

The second half seemed to be heading in the same direction as the first with the Saints still controlling the momentum of the game, taking a 2-1 lead off a goal just nine minutes into the period. An injury saw stalwart defender Jose Fernando Miguel come out of the game, Coach Alex Pama deciding to replace him with another offensive player, Luciano Diaz, to up the pace. Just 10 minutes later the move paid off, Diaz taking a pass from Bart Kooistra and ripping in the goal to even the game at 2-2. Diaz's goal completely changed the momentum of the match, Life U putting up two more goals to take a commanding 4-2 lead in the four minutes that followed. The go ahead and eventual game winner came in the 68th minute, following a foul in the penalty area, Stan Vandierendonck took the penalty kick attempt and scored into the far side fo the goal outside the reach of the Thomas More goalkeeper. A little over two minutes later, the 4-2 advantage was earned after Jinwoo Kang scored off a Ahmad Hadi Taha assist. With less than 10 minutes to go in the game, Danny DeLorijn had a chance to score but after the Saints defender stopped the opportunity, a miscue led to an own goal and the Life U advantage extending to the final score of 5-2.

Shots were very evenly divided amongst players in the game, no Running Eagle taking more than three in the contest, while the goals were dispersed amongst the players, with the four scored coming from four different players; Olivotto, Diaz, Kang, and Vandierendonck. Despite giving up a pair of goals, senior goalkeeper Pekruhl had a strong game, earning eight saves.

The offensive stats during the game were rather close, Life U holding a narrow 18-17 edge in shots taken and 8-6 in corner kicks, while trailing in shots on goal 11-7. With the disparity in score and shots on goal, the Running Eagles held a strong lead in saves at 9-2. Life U found itself being called on by the referees more than the Saints during the contest, leading fouls 9-6, while also collecting the only two yellow cards assigned on the day.

The men's soccer team turns to the MSC Tournament Quarterfinals now, looking to extend its season while facing second-seeded and 22nd-ranked host Cumberland University Friday, November 5th at 2:30 PM Eastern.