OLATHE, Kan. -- The Ottawa University men's soccer team fell 6-2 in the 2022 season opener at No. 9 MidAmerica Nazarene on Wednesday evening. The first match of 2022 for men's soccer marked fhe first game with head coach James Cottage at the helm. 

The Braves seemed to have a bit a bad luck to start the match, with the referee pointing to the penalty spot twice in the first 20 minutes. The Pioneers converted both penalty kicks, in the 6th minute and 19th minute to take a 2-0 lead. The Braves had their first chance in front of net in the 21st minute, with a shot from Slobodan Novicevic forced a difficult save from Enzo Carvalho. The Pioneers capitalized on some OU miscues and doubled their lead heading into halftime with the scoreline at 4-0. 

The second half started with promise for Ottawa, when Bence Molnar put the Braves on the scoresheet just two minutes in to make the score 4-1. Molnar was assisted by Novicevic, who received a long ball from Zac Wilson on the counterattack and found Molnar with a cross into the box. Molnar would find the net once more in the 71st minute, but the Pioneers scored twice more in the second half to hold on to the 6-2 victory over OU. 

Up Next: The Ottawa men's soccer team hosts Oklahoma Panhandle University on Saturday, Aug. 27th at 5 pm.