CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. – The
Campbellsville University's men's soccer team had their 2022 season debut and home opener Saturday evening, August 27
th. The Tigers fell short in their matchup against Governors State University in a 2-1 score.
The Jaguars took #7 Indiana Tech to a draw earlier in the week and sought to continue that solid play on the turf of Finley Stadium. Both the Tigers and the Jaguars had a strong offensive press in the opening minutes. Governors State scored at the nine-minute mark with a shot to the right-side of the goal after a defensive lapse back the Campbellsville back line. The Jaguars displayed their desire to forge ahead with that momentum earning two corner kicks before the Tigers could get a shot toward the their goal.
Campbellsville struggled to maintain stamina as Governors State tallied five shots and three corners compared to only their one attempted shot. The Tigers upped their fortitude as they began to take more shots to even the score. Closing in on the halftime buzzer, Campbellsville's goalkeeper,
Christian Hauge, accumulated two saves within a five-minute span. The Tigers amped up their defensive effort to hold the Jaguars at midfield and at a 1-0 lead going into the second half.
Into the latter 45, Hauge snagged two more saves to give award his team possession of the ball. The Tigers kept pushing until they were eventually granted with a goal of their own.
Guillermo Ferreiro took his opportunity to score with a header as the ball bounced back from the defense and found
Sebastiano Musu who then got the ball into Ferreiro's territory.
Despite evening the score, it led both teams to shirk any timidity. If anything, both squads were overplaying their aggression which came back to bite the Tigers. The Jaguars regained the lead as they scored at the 84 minute mark. Campbellsville tried to persevere in their final minutes to bring the lead back to nil, but the Jaguars switched to prioritizing defense and punted attempts away from their goal. Even so, Musu had more than one attempt to take the match into extra minutes (with even a defender saving one shot attempt), but as the time dwindled, Governors State left the field with the win 2-1 over the Tigers.
At game's end, Campbellsville totaled 14 attempted shots which almost matched the Jaguars' 15 shots – a testament to the bounce back second half for the Tigers' offensive game. Governors State took seven shots on goal and five of the seven had been saved by Hauge.
The Tigers are set to return home Wednesday, September 7
th to face off against Roosevelt University. The match will begin at 8 p.m. ET
