By Scotty Grigsby 

CIU men's soccer opened its first regular-season game against the Southeastern University Fire with near-perfect 80-degree weather conditions. The Rams would fall short to 25th ranked NAIA opponent Southeastern, 2-0 after 90 minutes of competitive play by both squads.  

The Fire would begin the game with early with constant pressure on the Rams backline. Southeastern capitalized on this pressure by striking first in the 34th minute with a deflected goal from Fire forward, Joshua Ruckeschel. The Rams would recover well from this early setback and maintain control over the Fire's attacking front line. Southeastern would continue heavy pressure on the Rams defense for the remainder of the first half while notching 6 shots to CIU's 3. Southeastern led the Ram's 1-0 going into halftime.  

The second half began with the Fire's second goal of the game from Jake Van Der Luit in the 42nd minute. Again, the Ram's rallied from this early second-half score and held off the attacking Southeastern forwards. In the 32nd minute, the Fire would be awarded a penalty kick off a foul from CIU defender, Santiago Martinez. Southeastern forward, Julian Hall would take the PK, but was denied by CIU goalkeeper, Hugo Lemus. Lemus made a diving save to his left to deflect the ball out of bounds for a corner kick. The Fire would again be awarded a penalty kick in the 22nd minute. Jake Van Der Luit would take the kick but also be denied. Lemus dove to his right to make a one-handed save to keep the deficit to two goals. The second half saw many scoring opportunities for CIU but the Rams were unable to capitalize. Southeastern would hold on to win 2-0.  

Head coach Bill Brindley commented after the game saying "Southeastern is a good team and to their credit, they came in and executed well. We will re-group and focus on our next opponent heading into Friday against a very strong Grace College".

CIU men's soccer prepares for their next match against Grace College on Friday, August 26th at 7:00 PM at Sessions Field.