ORANGE CITY, Iowa – The Northwestern College men's soccer team (3-0, 0-0 GPAC) wins overtime thriller to open up the home slate with a 1-0 decision over the Clarke Pride (2-2, 0-0 HAAC) as Juan Mackrey (Sr., Balcare, Argentina/Colegio Santa Rosa De Lima) found the back of the net in the 98^th minute.
 
A chippy and aggressive contest that saw 38 fouls called, seven yellow cards and one red card issued, did not disappoint the fans who came out to see the Raiders down Clarke at the NWC Soccer Complex.
 
"It seems every match this season brings a new and unique challenge. Tonight, it was the wet field conditions," said head coach Dan Swier. "Although it was difficult to play the way we wanted to, the guys stuck with it and did enough to get the three points."
 
The first half was a back-and-forth battle, both teams trying to settle in on the wet field conditions after rain early in the day in Northwest Iowa. Both teams were thrown off their game early on and it was deadlocked at 0-0 after the first 45 minutes of play.
 
The second half was when the aggressiveness began, as six of the seven yellow cards – and the red card – was issued in the second half. The Pride played a man down from the 56^th minute on, but the Raiders wouldn't convert on the opportunity until the first overtime period.
 
As the first overtime neared its conclusion, a Pride foul just outside the box set up a golden opportunity for the Raiders and they would not miss the opportunity. A perfectly controlled touch and finish from Mackrey with the assist of the set play credited to Riley Aarbo (Fr., Sioux Falls, S.D./O'Gorman) sent Raider fans home happy and resulted in a celebration at midfield in front of the Raider faithful.
 
Northwestern controlled possession the entire match, taking 17 shots to the Pride's five. The Raiders tallied six shots on goal to Clarke's three. The Pride were whistled for a whopping 23 fouls in the match.
 
Stan van den Beld (Fr., Voorhout, Netherlands/Rijnlands Lyceum Sassenheim) led the team in shots on the night with four, two of them being on goal. Marco Alessio (So., Chioggia, Italy/Liceo Giuseppe Veronese) and Tim Kaltenberger (So. Cologne, Germany/Max Ernst Gymnasium) also recorded shots for Northwestern. Mackrey increases his team-leading goal count to three goals on the season.
 
Junior goalkeeper Ezekiel Foltz (Sioux Center, Iowa/Sioux Center) improves to 3-0 in the net for the Raiders. He collected two saves in the win.

Up Next: The Raiders take to the pitch again in less than 24 hours as they will play host to the Statesmen of William Penn University (3-1, 0-0 HAAC) on Korver Field at De Valois Stadium following the Northwestern College home football opener. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.

---