Box Score

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Parkland men's soccer overcome a 2-0 deficit early in the first half against Iowa Central Community College to earn a 3-3 tie in the season opener at Parkland Soccer Stadium. The Cobra attack was paced by goals from freshman Francisco Andrade, sophomore Zach Gowlett and freshman Yu Sasaki.

"I think the first 10 minutes or so was indicative of having 14 new guys," said head coach Mark Sikora. "As much as you tell them what it's going to be like, they were just a bit overwhelmed. What you can't do is training, and the speed and the physicality, really shows up. Once they figured that out, we settled in a little bit. I think the middle portion was really indicative of [Iowa Central] playing a game yesterday at ICC. If we didn't give up those two goals early, maybe it's a different story. We seemed to figure it out, and were pushing really hard, and then we just ran out of gas, and [Iowa Central] gets that second or third wind to score at the end. We just have to figure it out. We obviously have good players, but it's about management now."

Maintaining the possession advantage for most of the match, Parkland outscored Iowa Central on shots on goal, 9-5, and corner kicks, 8-6, over the course of the 90 minutes.

Iowa Central put the Cobras in a two-goal hole early in the match with two quick strikes in the opening 10 minutes. The Tritons opened the scoring in the fourth minute off a shot in the box, and then padded the lead on a penalty kick five minutes later.

Trailing 2-0, the Cobras steadied the waters through the remaining 35 minutes, and earned the equalizer in the closing seconds of the opening half. Putting five shots on goal in the final 35 minutes, while allowing just one by Iowa Central, Parkland cut the deficit in half with a 26^th minute goal from Francisco Andrade off a feed from Yu Susaki.

After two more near misses towards the end of the half, Iowa Central was called for a penalty in the box to give Parkland a chance for the equalizer before half. Sophomore Zach Gowlett took the shot for the Cobras and converted for his first goal of the season.

Coming out of the break, Parkland continued to put pressure on Iowa Central's back line with two corner kicks in the opening four minutes. Again with an opportunity in the box off a free kick by freshman Naoto Uede, Susaki headed home the go-ahead goal to give Parkland a 3-2 lead in the 50^th minute.

"Yu has figured out it's not about how good you are, but how hard you work," Coach Sikora said of the freshman forward. "It's very cliché, but the luck comes to you as long as you go after it. I was very impressed the way he defended and got himself into the match going after balls. If the game isn't coming to him naturally, he'll just keep fighting defensively to get him into that rhythm and that pace."

Despite another corner and three more shots on goal in the following 20 minutes, including a shot by Uede off the top of the cross bar, Parkland was unable to pad its lead.

After fighting off the Parkland scoring chances, Iowa Central regained the momentum they had from the start of the match and knocked home the equalizer with 19:22 left in the match.

Tied 3-3, Parkland's backs were tested by three corners and a shot on goal in the closing 10 minutes of the match, but held off the Tritons to preserve the tie. Sophomore goalie Lorenzo Giaretti's athletic save with just over a minute remaining thwarted Iowa Central's last shot on goal.

Up next, the Parkland men are back in action tomorrow, August 24, at St. Charles Community College at 4 p.m. central time. The Cobras' third match of the opening week of the season will take place on Sunday, August 26, at St. Louis Community College at 2 p.m.