Beaver Falls, PA - In the first game of the Gary Dunda Geneva College soccer era, the Golden Tornadoes came within 37 seconds of picking up an opening game victory. But for the first time in three years, Geneva College was forced to settle for a 1-1 tie with Penn State Behrend. Both teams were playing their first match of the season and it appeared they were both in mid-season form. Combining for 33 victories between the schools a year ago, the match lived up to the billing. "It was an intense college soccer match," said Dunda. "Both teams played extremely hard, but it was certainly disappointing to come so close and not be able to finish it off with a victory."
Neither team managed to find the net in the first half but sophomore David Harwood took a feed from Teddy Kryswiecki and headed it into the net in the 53rd minute to give Geneva a 1-0 lead. The Golden Tornadoes out shot Penn State Behrend 21-15 for the game but in the final minute, the Lions were able to pull even. A long feed from near midfield found the foot of Jake Gamble, who managed to slip it past sophomore goalkeeper Evan Biedenbach. Taking over for graduated senior David Callahan, Biedenbach was solid all night with six saves to keep the game tied.
"We need to work a bit on our transition defense, but other than that I was very pleased with our effort," said Dunda. "It was a solid effort to start the season."
The Golden Tornadoes will take to the road on Saturday against Franciscan University before returning home next Wednesday to host Point Park at 7 pm.
Geneva College is a comprehensive Christian college of the arts, sciences and professional studies. Founded in the tradition of the Reformed Christian faith, Geneva prepares students to serve Christ in all areas of society: work, family and the church. Geneva College′s philosophy of education is based on the Foundational Concepts of Christian Higher Education. Geneva is a founding member of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU).
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