Tipp battles back to tie Trojans 2-2
The adversity was there. The perseverance was there. And the Tippecanoe boys soccer team battled through both of them to escape with a hard-fought 2-2 tie against MVL for Troy last week. Tipp trailed until late in the game and tied it with under four minutes left. Now both Tipp and Troy sit a half game behind the early division-leading Butler Aviators, who have to face both teams later in the season.
But in this one, Tipp had to battle back twice before walking off the field with nothing decided in this league matchup.
“This talks a lot about our group,” Tipp coach Joel Slyman said. “In our first four games, we have Bexley, Troy, and Monroe, and we came out without a loss. This group has done so well, they have battled. This is the team tonight that we thought were going to give us the most problem with their size and physicality. We matched it tonight.”
“Mason Mader is giving up a foot against the Troy kid, he is just all over him. Our guys tonight have nothing left in the tank, but we know we have more though. We score with (two minutes) left; that’s a feel-good feeling with this group.”
After a scoreless first half, Troy scored with 25:59 left in the game when the ball was deflected off the Tipp keeper, but the follow-through landed in the net, giving Troy a 1-0 lead.
“We knew they were going to have the ball a little bit more in the first half and be physical, and neither team had a whole lot of chances,” Slyman said.
Less than a minute later, the Red Devils battled back to tie the game when Maddox Robinson scored.
“For years we have had a long throw, and Eli Kettel can throw it from anywhere,” Slyman said. “If you put something in the box, it is going to be dangerous. Maddox was ready to toe poke it in.”
The Trojans scored again at the 11:09 mark to take a 2-1 lead, and things were looking rough for Tipp in the final ten minutes until Robison delivered again. In a scramble, he put the ball past the Troy keeper and Tipp had tied the game at 2-2.
“I didn’t know what this team was going to do,” Slyman said. “I am glad to see the resiliency from the guys.”
Troy just missed a game winner with 50 seconds left, but their shot went off the side of the goal.
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