On Friday, Sept.15, the Grand Rapids Community College Men’s Soccer team traveled to Donaldson, Indiana to face Marian-Ancilla. With a total of 16 shots on goal, GRCC was unable to score which led to a 0-0 tie.
The Raiders started the game attacking as the freshmen strikers Jaret Jaramillo, Elijah Maas, and Mohamed Tamour all had chances of scoring within the first 12 minutes of the game. The Chargers freshman goalkeeper Tolulope Oluwafemi saved multiple Raider shots, frustrating the GRCC attack.
This led to the first of many yellow cards in the game, the first by the Chargers freshman striker Marek Robinson.
GRCC tried responding to the yellow card by scoring as they had numerous corner kick opportunities, including multiple from Maas, but failed to score. Freshman goalkeeper Brett Miller notched a few saves in the first half, including one at the 26-minute mark Jaramillo had another chance at the lead, but another save from Oluwafemi stopped the chances of that happening.
Toward the end of the half, Miller stopped a Charger shot with only minutes remaining, keeping the game at a stand-still score of 0-0.
GRCC outshot the Chargers 11-3 in the first half along with eight corner kick opportunities. The Chargers had a total of five saves compared to the Raiders two.
Starting the second half, the Raiders looked to capitalize on the discrepancy of shots, but Oluwafemi had other plans. Jaramillo had another chance to score with 39:27 remaining in the second half but was unable to knock it in.
The lack of success throughout the game started to frustrate the Raiders, as freshman forward Pablo Lopez-Perez received the team’s first yellow card. GRCC had another chance immediately after the penalty as defender Alexander Harrington took a shot but was again stopped by Oluwafemi.
The game slowed down after this as both teams struggled to get legit scoring opportunities for the next 15 minutes. This changed when Tamour had a moment of hope as he took a shot with 16:10 remaining, but was unable to convert the opportunity to a goal.
Heading into the last 10 minutes of the game, things became heated between the Chargers and the Raiders. Freshman defender Ian Gunderson received a yellow card after arguing with a ref about a foul call. Only a minute later, a miniature brawl ensued as multiple Charger players were given yellow cards.
Jaramillo once again had a shot at taking the lead, but Oluwafemi shut it down with only eight minutes remaining. With only 1:11 remaining, freshman striker Mohamed Qambari received a red card for his aggression, Maas received a yellow card, and a Charger defender also received a yellow card for the incident.
However, the Raiders had one final chance at the win as freshman winger Lucas Freriks took a shot with only 17 seconds remaining. Still, similar to every defensive play from the Chargers, Oluwafemi saved it which ended the game in a tie 0-0.
The Raiders took 12 more shots on goal compared to the Chargers, along with 31 more shots in total. Miller ended the game with a total of four saves and Oluwafemi had an impressive 14 saves.
With the tie, GRCC moves to a 6-1-1 overall record along with a 5-0-1 conference record. The Raiders take a break from their conference schedule as they face Bryant and Stratton College on Sunday, Sept.17, at Farmers Insurance Athletic Complex at 4:30 p.m.
