Shorthanded Pride fall 3-1 to Grand View
Des Moines, Iowa - Entering Tuesday night's Heart of America Athletic Conference game down four starters, the Clarke University men's soccer team was unable to overcome their shorthanded lineup in a 3-1 defeat to Grand View University on the road.
The Pride suffered a trio of red cards in last Saturday's game against Baker University as starting goalkeeper Fernando Contreras, outside defender Keita Sato, and central midfielder Jose Gomez all had to sit out against the Vikings with Luke Persenico also receiving a yellow card in that game to reach the limit for yellow cards in a season requiring a game suspension to be served on Tuesday as well.
The game remained scoreless for most of the first half but CU suffered more misfortune from the referee's book as center back Alejandro Valverde picked up a pair of yellow cards before the halftime break to be sent off, putting the Pride down a man for the remainder of the game and also leading to the Vikings' first goal of the game in the 44th minute from Simon Rokkedal.
Despite keeping it at 0-0 for most of the half, Grand View outside the Pride significantly in the opening frame to eventually outshoot Clarke 13-7 over the full 90 minutes.
Senior goalkeeper Jan Paule made his second start and appearance of the season and his first since the season opener on Aug. 28 against Loras College as he was able to make five saves on the eight shots on goal against.
The Viking extended their lead fairly early into the second half as they scored a 52nd minute goal from Rune Peterson then put the finishing touch on the game in the 88th minute with Jayce Berger scoring off of an assist from Peterson.
Jonathan Velasquez was able to help CU avoid the shutout with a penalty kick goal in the final minute of the game but that was all the scoring Clarke could manage.
Clarke men's soccer will now prepare for their final game of the season as they will travel to Parkvile, Mo. to face Park University on Saturday, Oct. 29 with that game expected to have major Heart Tournament seeding implications.