By Ryan Atkinson
ratkinson@joplinglobe.com
Turns out the older guys can still play.
A team of former Missouri Southern soccer veterans played 70 scoreless minutes before the current Lions broke through for a pair of late goals and a 2-0 win on Saturday at Hal Bodon Field.
“They feel real good about themselves,” Missouri Southern coach Kiley Cirillo said of the alumni. “And they should. They came out here and played well.”
Despite a handful of near-misses, neither team found the back of the net until late in the second half when Mike Bayless took advantage of a penalty kick from about 10 yards out.
The Lions tacked on another goal — an impressive score by Isai Ramirez Tello with an assist from College Heights graduate Jesse Clevenger — in the 83rd minute.
“We got the result we wanted; you always want to walk away with the win,” Cirillo said. “But we didn’t really go about getting that result like we wanted to. We have to have a better first half.”
The alumni squad, which included a handful of players from last year’s MSSU squad, just missed on a pair of first-half scoring chances.
“I though we played excellent,” said alumni goal keeper David Haney, who played for the Lions from 1992-1995. “We came out here to have a good time and play some good soccer and I think we did that.”
Haney, who is originally from Joplin and now lives in Columbia, had a solid individual performance. He came up with a handful of saves before allowing the two late goals.
“I felt like I did OK,” he said. “I should have had that first goal. The second one I couldn’t do anything about. It was a great play, but I should have had that first one.”
The match was the final tuneup for the Lions before they open their season on Friday against Texas A&M; International in Tahlequah, Okla.
“We have some things that we need to improve on,” Cirillo said. “We’re a young team and we’re going to get better, but we have to do some things differently.
“We have to improve on the possession side of the game ... we’re making too many wrong runs.”
The Lions, selected fifth in the preseason Southwest Soccer Conference poll, open their home schedule on Sept. 2 against John Brown.
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