HUNTINGBURG, Ind. -- Facing an Oakland City men's soccer unit who hadn't lost a contest early in River States Conference competition, the Shawnee State men's soccer program put the homestanding unit through the ringer in a 90-minute conference battle -- with the Bears and the Mighty Oaks battling to a respectable 1-1 tie Saturday afternoon.
Despite being outshot 13-5, being called for 11 fouls to Oakland City's five and receiving three yellow cards to Oakland City's none, Shawnee State made its opportunities count on both ends of the pitch.
In the 17th minute, Nikos Pontikis stole a ball in space and, using his tremendous speed and hustle, moved down the far side of the pitch where the Athens, Greece native launched a ball deep inside the box.
The ball ultimately ended up going through to Trevor Aviero Masanjala on the near side -- where the junior talent did the rest by finishing the shot for his first goal of the 2024 season and his third point in all as Pontikis' speed and aggressiveness, along with the awareness of Masanjala and a pushing Cameron Thompson helped create the opportunity as Shawnee State cashed in on its first shot of the game.
Outside of Oakland City's Adam Dimba, the rest of the Mighty Oaks' offense was held relatively in check -- although Dimba was able to convert on Oakland City's second shot of the contest in the 36th minute, tying the score at one apiece just before the halftime break.
In the second half of competition, Pontikis put pressure on Oakland City again with shots in the 50th and 82nd minutes of play, while Marco Riva had his own opportunity to pounce in the 73rd -- but all opportunities were saved by Oakland City's Jacob Robinson.
Eric Green, however, matched Robinson's output -- and then some.
Over an 18-minute span from the 49th through 67th minutes of action, Green stopped four shots with saves to help preserve the tie, then got help from Clement Akanyah who cleared a ball in the 75th to prevent a go-ahead goal by the Mighty Oaks. Green concluded his five-save outing with a big stop as the senior stopped a shot by Dimba with just over two-and-a-half minutes left to play in the River States Conference affair to preserve the draw.
In addition to Masanjala's goal, Pontikis' assist and two shots on goal led the offensive display for Shawnee State while Riva's shot on goal and an attempt from Guillermo Conejo Martin rounded out the Bears' output.
Shawnee State (4-6-2, 1-1-1 River States Conference) will get a 12-day break before taking on a big River States Conference matchup against West Virginia Tech, who was 4-3-2 overall and 2-0 in River States Conference play coming into its own RSC contest Saturday at Indiana-East.
