Men's Soccer Defeats Ottawa In Season Opener

Lamoni, IA - The Graceland men's soccer team open's its 2015 season this evening with a 2-0 victory against the Ottawa Braves.

The Yellowjackets enjoyed a beautiful night to have their first home game of the season in Lamoni. GU started the game with an aggressive attack offensively. They outshot the Braves 13 to 3 in the first half, and while none of the shots managed to fall for the Yellowjackets the relentlessness of the attack wore down Ottawa.

After the second half that looked all too similar to the first was almost over Robbie Turk finally put a score on the board with a goal at 84:16 with the assist from Cameron Barksdale. Goalkeeper Edward Maya was not out of the woods yet and had another goal quickly scored at the 89:52 mark by Sergi Trullas. This would give GU a 2-0 lead and seal the fate of the game with only eight seconds remaining.

Turk was leading the team in the Braves box, notching seven shots with four on goal and one made for an outstanding night of offense. Cody Blentlinger added five shots as well as numerous other players who added shots to give Graceland the 25 to 6 shot advantage.

Mitchell Hart had two saves in the course of the defensively strong game for the Yellowjackets.

"We were not expecting Ottawa to play back so far defensively," said Head Coach Bryan Courtney. "We had some difficulty breaking them down in the offensive third, but we did a good job being patient with our possession. I am pleased overall with the performance but we have a lot improve on. We will have a bit of a tougher test on Saturday against William Woods."

The Yellowjackets start their season with a 1-0 record and hope to keep the momentum going. Their next test will be on Saturday August 29th at home against William Woods University. That match will have a start time of 2:00pm.

Stay tuned to GUjackets.com for continuing coverage of Graceland Men's Soccer and all Yellowjacket athletics.