By DonDon Bumacod

The Master’s University men’s soccer team tied Hope International University 0-0 in a tightly contested game played at Biola University in La Mirada, Calif. Saturday afternoon.

While the game had no goals to look at, the physical and shot heavy back and forth between these two conference rivals was anything but boring. And considering it was the Royals that snubbed the Mustangs from the conference title last season, the intensity is understandable.

The Mustangs set the tone early with two fouls and a shot within the first six minutes of the game, before the Royals began applying offensive pressure to the Mustangs.

Twenty-seven minutes into the game, the intensity picked up again as yellow cards were drawn. In a four-minute span, The Master’s received two yellow cards and three fouls while the Royals received one yellow card.

Things would calm down, as they ended the first half with four shots each.

The second half saw both teams change their strategies. For the Mustangs, they focused on trying to score while the Royals got physical. In a 25-minute span, the Mustangs recorded eight shots and two fouls while the Royals recorded three shots and nine fouls.

But the score remained 0-0.

With 20 minutes left in the game, the momentum switched in favor of the Royals, as they maintained possession and were able to get nine shots in 10 minutes.

Shortly afterwards, the Mustangs recorded four shots in three minutes, but a yellow card drawn against the Mustangs ended any momentum they had.

And while the Royals recorded two more shots, the game ended in a 0-0 tie.

The tie might not seem all too pleasant to some, but TMU head coach Jim Rickard understands how significant it was for the team.

“When you’re playing high quality teams, tying is not pleasant, but sometimes, when you look back… it’s a really critical tie.” Rickard said. “To play away against arguably the top team and to come away with a tie is really good… I felt like we got stronger as the game went on. There were times they were on us and there were times when we were on them. Overall, our chances were better.”

The Royals out shot the Mustangs 19-16, but the Mustangs had better chances with five shots on goal over the Royals’ four. The Mustangs drew three yellow cards while the Royals drew one, with the Royals ending with 13 fouls over the 10 fouls the Mustangs had.

Junior forward Adiel Kaduya led the team with seven shots and two shots on goal, with sophomore midfielder Trent Rickard close behind with five shots and two shots on goal.

Freshman goalkeeper Julian Graham held the fort for the Mustangs, recording his second consecutive shutout of the season as he stopped all four shots and was a dominating presence against the eight corner kicks and several through shots he had to face. Not only that, his leadership and callouts from the net have been crucial for the team.

“I thought Julian had a really good game, it was his second shutout,” Rickard said about the Australian goalkeeper. “We started off rough, we gave up 12 goals in four games and now we’ve given up zero goals in two games. That trend is good no matter what.”

Rickard also sees the team’s momentum changing for the better, as they now sit in a tie for first in the conference standings.

“I think when we were 0-4, if you said that we were one win and one tie in the first two games, and if we would be happy, I would say ‘yeah, I would.'”

The team will travel to Glendale, Ariz. to play against Arizona Christian University at the ACU Soccer Field Wednesday, at 8 p.m.