Pride stave off Grand View comeback to 3-2 win in regular season finale
DES MOINES, Iowa - Looking to head into their return to the Heart of America Athletic Conference Tournament on a winning streak, the Clarke University men's soccer team would pull off a 3-2 road victory against Grand View University on Thursday night.
The Pride would get the scoring started early as senior Luke Persenico would score his 18th goal of the season in the 5th minute when Nadji Rebai launched a long aerial pass from near the CU defensive box where Persenico would collect the bouncing ball while beating Grand View goalkeeper Scott Pengelly to tap the ball into the net to make it 1-0 Clarke.
With that 18th goal, Persenico would set a new Clarke men's soccer record for goals in a season, breaking the tie he had with Jordan Perry from 2015 as Persenico would reach 18, and eventually 19, in three less games than Perry played in 2015.
The Rebai to Persenico connection would come into play yet again in the first half as almost exactly 20 minutes of game time later, when a Joshua Reddy long throw-in would be flicked on to Persenico off the head of Rebai for a one-touch volley tap in goal to put the Pride up 2-0, where they would lead into halftime.
The Vikings would strike first in the second half to cut the game to a one goal lead when they earned a corner kick in the 53rd minute where Lier Ayarza would find the head of Samuel Londono and beat Clarke goalie Philipp Kohle for their first goal of the game and to make it a one-goal game at 2-1.
In the 68th minute, this time it would be Clarke earning a corner kick and Rebai showing off his finishing ability as he would volley a corner service from Carles Aparisi to give the Pride their two-goal lead back at 3-1 on Rebai's first goal in his Clarke career.
With under 12 minutes remaining in the game, a Grand View player would be taken down in the box to earn a penalty kick where Benedikt Zechmeister would beat Kohle with a shot inside of the left post, again forcing CU to hold onto a one-goal lead from the 79th minute on, which they would do to secure the win.
With their win, Clarke men's soccer ties the most wins in program history with their 10-4-1 overall record as the Pride also have produced their best conference record and finish ever with a 7-4 Heart record to secure third place in the Heart regular season to secure a home game in the Heart Tournament as the No. 3 seed.
That Heart Tournament game will be up next for the Pride as they will host their first ever home postseason game at Burrows Field next Wednesday, Nov. 6 with an anticipated 7:00 p.m. CT kickoff in Dubuque, with their opponent yet to be determined but could be any of the following four teams, Benedictine, Mount Mercy, Baker, or Park as the results of those teams' final regular season games will still help determine seeding.