LANSING, Mi. --- The Asbury men's soccer team (8-2-4) traveled to Lansing, Mi., to take on NCCAA opponent, Great Lakes Christian College (5-7-2) in a Thursday afternoon matchup. Despite the Crusaders taking a 1-0 lead in the second half, AU battled back to score two goals in the last 12 minutes of the match to take a 2-1 victory for their eighth win of the year.
The game-winning goal came off the foot of Asbury freshman
Jason Flaming in the last 25 seconds, giving the Eagles the 2-1 win. Flaming now has five goals in his first year as an Eagle, just one behind
Austin Dunlap with a team-leading six goals.
Luke Thomas recorded a season-high of nine shots with eight on goal against the Crusaders. Thomas accounted for 64% of AU's total 14 shots while shooting for 88% on goal.
Asbury out-shot their opponents 14-5 and held GLCC to just one corner while grabbing six of their own. The Eagles grabbed five shots in the first, compared to the Crusaders three, but were unable to put any away, resulting in a scoreless first half for both sides.
Peyton French had a save in the first minute of the match to hold GLCC off the board. French has now allowed more than two goals in a match only once in his 12 matches in front of goal for AU, the Eagles have not lossed in the 12 match stretch.
GLCC got on the board first with a goal coming just seven minutes into the second half. Eric Cooper scored a 52' goal off an assist from Zach Johnson to give the Crusaders a 1-0 lead.
AU continued to press on and chip away at the Crusader's defense, recording nine shots for the half.
Luke Thomas came through with a clutch equalizer for AU, drawing a penalty kick in the 78th minute to tie things at 1-1.
With only 25 seconds remaining in the match,
Nick Clark played a free kick into the box that
Jason Flaming put away to secure AU their 2-1 victory over the Crusaders. Clark now sits at number four in the NCCAA for assists.
With their win on Thursday Asbury moves to 8-2-4 on the season with only one match remaining in the regular season. The Eagles remain undefeated on the road, with five wins and two ties for road contests.
AU has not lost a match since September 8th, clicking to eight wins since then with three ties.
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Luke Thomas | 9 SH, 8 SOG, 1 G
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Jason Flaming | 1 SH, 1 SOG, 1 G
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Nick Clark | 1 SH, 1 SOG, 1 A
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Austin Dunlap | 1 SH, 1 SOG
* AU recorded 14 shots with 11 on goal.
* AU defense held their opponent to one corner while grabbing six of their own.
"Crazy match. Regardless of the conditions, we should have performed better and brought better energy to the game. In the end, we did enough to keep chipping away at it and found one (almost two) before regulation. Sometimes walking away with a win in those situations brings necessary confidence and resiliency to the guys in a time of the season where we need it most."
Ben Andrews | Head Coach
Asbury will stay on the road, as they travel to Grand Rapids, Mi. to take on Grace Christian University on Saturday for their last match of the regular season.
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