Andy Bush scored on a penalty kick just over a minute into the game and Nick vonEgypt scored the game-winner in the 65^th minute to push the Misericordia University men's soccer team to a 2-1 victory over King's College on Senior Appreciation Day at Mangelsdorf Field.
 
With the victory, the Cougars assured themselves of one of the top two seeds in the upcoming Freedom Conference tournament and an home semifinal contest.
 
“I thought it was a good hard match,” said MU head coach Chuck Edkins. “I thought that we responded well after playing flat against Wilkes, and to get a victory over a strong King's team is something of which to be proud.”
 
Just 63 seconds into the contest, a King's player was called for a foul in the box, setting up the Bush penalty shot, which he converted for his team-best 13^th goal of the season.
 
King's responded, increasing the intensity of their attack and eventually scoring on a David Stroh header from a Kevin Buchanan cross in the 15^th minute to net the score at 1-1.
 
“I thought that we had good pressure on them early,” said Edkins. “Then they started to take the game back from us a bit, using that momentum to tie it up. We had to make some adjustments from that point.”
 
Despite several good looks and outshooting the Monarchs 12-2 in the first half, the Cougars couldn't manage another goal and the game remained tied at halftime.
 
Both teams had good looks early in the second half, perhaps none better than a strike by the Monarchs' Daniel Hernandez in the 62^nd minute, which required a diving save by Billy Sopko to preserve the tie.
 
The Cougars responded to the scare, and just three minutes later, Nick Ferguson crossed a ball to the right side of the Cougars goal which was deflected off of vonEgypt into the net for his fourth goal of the season, and MU held on for the victory.
 
“Billy Sopko had to make a great save for us to keep it at 1-1, but overall I thought that our back four did a really great job for us today. We got a good defensive effort for us today from Nick Ferguson in the midfield, and we really needed that. But the thing that really made the difference is Ferguson ran at that kid at speed, served the ball across, and Tim Ryan tried to play the ball across and vonEgypt got the goal on the deflection.”
 
Coach Edkins took a few moments to speak about his seniors.
 
“I've been really fortunate to coach a lot of great people through the years,” said Edkins. “This group has been really special to me. They really know how to stay together and how to get others to come on board with them. These seniors provide tremendous leadership. Greg and Andy are our captains, and Greg is the most vocal captain and the one that keeps those things together, but what each of these guys show concerning work rate, character, and work ethic in the classroom provides such an incredible example to our underclassmen and makes them great representatives to our campus. I couldn't be more proud to be their coach.”
 
The Cougars face Juniata on Wednesday for their final regular season home match before travelling to Manhattanville on Saturday. A win or a tie against Manhattanville would secure the #1-seed for the Cougars in the Freedom tournament, to be held the following week.