After early lead, Mustangs fall at Grand View

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Manuel Prieto gave the Mount Mercy men's soccer team an early lead, but Grand View leveled the match by halftime and scored the game-ending goal midway through the second overtime to defeat the Mustangs, 2-1, in the opening game of the Heart of America Athletic Conference season on Tuesday night at Cownie Complex.

Yu Sasaki and Oguzhan Bozkan both assisted Prieto's goal, which gave the Mustangs a 1-0 just 14 minutes into the match. While team stats were comparable -- each took 13 shots as Mount Mercy put seven on frame and Grand View had nine on goal -- it was the Vikings that broke through and found the back of the net.

Lucas Gutierrez tied the game at 1-1 on an assist by Emil Enqvist in the 28th minute. For the remainder of the half and throughout the second period, neither team could punch through. That ended in the 105th minute when Aaron Williams set up Alessandro Venditti's game-winner to push the Vikings to 3-1-1 overall and 1-0-0 in the Heart. Mount Mercy dipped to 3-3-0 and 0-1-0 in conference play.

The Mustangs face a stiff test this weekend, hosting second-ranked Central Methodist (3-0-0) on Saturday at 4:30 pm at Hadzic Field at the Robert W. Plaster Athletic Complex in Cedar Rapids.