Oct. 22, 2008

Story courtesy of Park Sports Information Office

PARKVILLE, Mo. – Park University used a pair of second-half goals past the 60-minute mark and Michael Eade pitched his fifth shut-out of the season between the pipes, as the 16th-ranked Pirates topped newly tabbed No. 8 Southern Nazarene 2-0 Tuesday at Julian Field in Parkville, Mo.

Park (9-2-3) out-shot the Crimson Storm 12-7 in the game, including a four-shot edge in on-goal, attempts marking SNU’s third loss of the season and its second in a row. With the loss, Southern Nazarene falls to 8-3-1.

Eade had one save in 90 minutes for the Pirates, stopping Eric Hanebutt’s first-half opportunity to send the game to a scoreless tie after the first 45-minute frame. Despite two second-half saves by SNU keeper Kenton Farris, Southern Nazarene was unable to hold the Pirates off the board in the second half, as Park converted on two of its four scoring chances.

The Pirates’ first goal came in the 64th minute when Tazou Ali Tagba took a Raad Qumsieh offering from across the box and placed it in the back of the net, scoring his 10th goal of the season to put Park up 1-0 with 26:47 remaining in the game.

Alain Matingou made it a two-score game 20 minutes later, when Ramone Palmer blasted a corner-kick into the middle of the box, and from there, Matingou nodded the ball past Farris for his first goal of the season to extend the Park lead in the 64th minute..

“This was the kind of win we need at this point in the season,” said head coach Efrem Shimlis. “To keep a team like Southern Nazarene from scoring says a lot about the way we played defense today, and I was proud of the way we controlled the ball. I really thought we were the more aggressive team today, and that’s what we have to do late in the season to win games.”

Ali Tagba led Park with four shots taken, three of which where on goal, while Qumsieh and Matingou had the only other on-frame shots for Park in the contest. Ryan Allen and Eric Ouedraogo each took two shots for SNU with out an on-goal attempt, as the Crimson Storm went scoreless for only the third time this season and the first since a 0-0 tie with Bethel (Ind.) on Sept. 20.

Park University will take a three-day lay-off before resuming conference play Saturday at Julian Field, with kickoff scheduled for 3 p.m. against Central Christian College on Park University Family Day, while SNU is back in action as well Saturday, traveling to Oklahoma City University at 7 p.m.