Panthers Secure Win against Ravens in Battle for HCAC Position

The Anderson University men's soccer team took on the Hanover Panthers on Saturday in a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference match-up. After 90 minutes of soccer, the Ravens fell to the Panthers 3-0. Although the Ravens lost, Anderson did secure a third-place spot in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference postseason tournament.

With the match underway, both teams fired off a shot within the first six minutes, with Dalton Grubbs (Carmel, Ind. / Carmel) taking Anderson (8-7-2, 5-1-2) and hitting it off and to the left on the goal. Grubbs's shot would be the only shot of the half for the Ravens. Through the first 45 minutes, Hanover (11-4-1, 7-1-0) racked up 12 shots against the Ravens.

Hanover would get on the board with their first goal of the game in the 40^th minute with a shot by Sean Fleming. The Panthers led the Ravens 1-0 heading into halftime.

The Panthers would continue to offensively attack the Ravens through the second half. Anderson would get their first shot of the half in the 57^th minute from Jordan Bossman (Gahanna, Ohio / Westerville North). Bossman's shot would be in the lower right corner, but the Panthers' goalkeeper would make the save to keep the Ravens off the board.

In the 77^th minute, the Panthers built their lead as Joao Domenici scored off a Renato Yostio assist to make it a 2-0 game. Then in the 82^nd minute, a foul by the Ravens inside the 18-yard box awarded the Panthers with a penalty kick. Josh Hughes capitalized on the opportunity and gave the Panthers their 3-0 lead.

Anderson would get two chances in the final five minutes, but were unable to make anything of it as they fell to the Panthers 3-0.

Inside the box score, Hanover tallied 23 shots with 10 on goal while Anderson had four shots with two on goal. Jordan Bossman hit both of his shots on frame. Dalton Grubbs and Usman Kamara (Indianapolis, Ind. / Franklin Central) each tallied one shot. Danny Moro-Medina (Goshen, Ind. / Goshen) saved seven shots during the match. Drew Vaughn (Beavercreek, Ohio / Beavercreek) led the Ravens with three steals while Stephen Fite (Cincinnati, Ohio / Homeschool) led the Ravens with two intercepts. Dalton Grubbs also recorded a defensive save.

Head Coach Scott Fridley said the following after the match: "I am disappointed in the last 12 minutes of the match of course, but it is a good reminder that you have to finish the game strong. I thought we had moments of brilliance and felt good about where things were at different points of the game. Hanover is a tough place to play. We will learn, we will fix our errors, and we will keep getting better."

Anderson now turns their focus to finish out the regular season. They head to Terre Haute to take on the Fightin' Engineers of Rose-Hulman (11-4-1, 8-0). Rose-Hulman has locked in the top seed of the HCAC Tournament heading into the final game with an undefeated conference record for a total of 24 points so far. Hanover is in second with a 7-1 HCAC record and 21 points currently. No matter the result on Wednesday, Anderson will finish the HCAC regular season in third place, earning a home conference tournament game that will take place on Saturday.