The Benedictine University Mesa men's soccer team battled through a hard-fought 90 minutes to earn a 3–2 win over Carroll College on Saturday, overcoming an early deficit with resilience and timely goals.
Carroll opened the scoring just two minutes into the match when Pedro Teixeira found the back of the net. The Redhawks responded with sustained pressure but didn't break through until the 39th minute, when
Jay Fuentes—fresh off the bench—slotted home the equalizer off a setup from
Ryder Padgett to make it 1–1.
The Saints quickly regained the lead in the 41st minute on a goal from Josiah Bibeau. But less than a minute later, Benedictine leveled the score again as
Ryder Padgett's shot deflected off a defender and into the net for an own goal, sending the teams into halftime tied 2–2.
The second half turned physical, with both sides trading fouls and yellow cards in a tense battle. The Redhawks finally took control in the 59th minute when
Wiktor Blachowicz finished off an assist from
Rodrigo Bonilla, giving Benedictine its first lead of the day at 3–2.
From there, the Redhawks' defense and goalkeeper
Moritz Ae held firm. Ae came up with four key saves down the stretch, while defenders
Jack Jackson,
Edwin Arias, and
Jack Taylor anchored the back line to secure the win.
Key Players:
Looking Ahead: The Redhawks return to action on Thursday, September 11, when they travel to OUAZ to open conference play.
