By Scotty Grigsby

The CIU Men's soccer team competed in its second and final scrimmage of the season Thursday night versus Newberry College. The final tally after 90 minutes was a 1-1 draw. Both teams competed at a high level but were unable to pull away.  

The game would start off physically with 4 fouls in the first 8 minutes of play. The Newberry College Wolves would apply pressure early and dominate time of possession for much of the first half. The Wolves took advantage of the early pressure and would strike first in the 38th minute. Newberry midfielder Ibraham Nadir would score off a free kick at the top of the 18-yard line. The Ram's would rally and put pressure back on the Wolves with 2 shots back to back from Kenny Kocherschiedt and Rahim Gordan. The Rams intensified the pressure up until the 7th minute of play when they would break through with a score. Marcos Da Paz was played a long through ball by Kocherschiedt and the sophomore would score on a one on one with the Wolves keeper. Da Paz's goal would pull CIU even with Newberry heading into halftime 1-1.  

Both teams tried to assert dominance in the match during the second half, but neither were able to establish an edge. Both squads would again begin to aggressively pressure late in the game with 9 shots between them. CIU goalkeeper, Hugo Lemus, would end the night with 6 saves one of which was a diving block that would have ended up in the top right-hand corner of the Ram's goal. In the end, neither side was able to put the other way, in what was a very physical but competitive game. CIU Head Men's Soccer Coach Bill Brindley commented on the match saying "Newberry is a strong team and is a great opponent to have played heading into the regular season. We will look to build on tonight as we prepare for Monday against Southeastern University who is ranked in the top 25 in the NAIA"

The Ram's begin the regular season on Monday, August 26th hosting #25 ranked Southeastern University at Sessions Field.