WATERTOWN, Wis. -- It was a wild one from start to finish, as the Sabercats took a hard-fought 3-2 loss to Finlandia this afternoon.

Aaron Jones scored one of the goals of the season and Braeden Hansel buried a penalty kick, but the Lions did just enough to close out a well-earned win.

OVERVIEW

• Result: Maranatha 2-3 Finlandia
• Venue: Maranatha Baptist University
• Location: Watertown, Wis. 
• Event: Parents' Day
• Attendance: 131
• Record: MBU (3-5-0), FINNU (4-4-3) 

STORY

Finlandia got on the board early on with a breakaway finish inside of 10 minutes, but the Sabercats - well, Jones - answered in the most spectacular way.

Jones collected a loose ball right in front of the Sabercats' bench - about 75 yards from the goal, and initiated a darting run into the Lions' half, around and through their back line, and into the box. Jones waited for the keeper to come off his line before slamming a left-footed shot to the near post. It was solo effort worth the price of any admission, and the Sabercats had tied the game.

Later in the first half, Jones created the chance for the go-ahead goal, drawing a foul inside the Lions' penalty area. Braeden Hansel stepped up calmly and buried his penalty kick to give Maranatha a 2-1 lead going into the break.

The Sabercats came out flat to start the second half, though. Finlandia scored twice in the early minutes to take the lead, initiating a feisty close to the match.

Maranatha pressed for all they were worth but could not find a way through the Finlandia defense, as the Lions sealed the deal with alert defending through the remainder of the 90 minutes.

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Maranatha Starters: 00- Balyo, 2- T. Holloway (C), 5- Jones, 8- Davis, 9- Wright (C), 10- Schmidt, 11- Beachell, 16- Kirchner, 18- P. Holloway, 20- P. Holloway, 21- Hansel (C)

STATS

• Shot count: Maranatha 11-15 Finlandia
• Jones: 1 goal
• Hansel: 1 goal
• Jones: now leads the team with 7 goals on the season
• Last time: Maranatha fell to Finlandia 2-5 in September 2021
• Series: Maranatha leads the all-time series against Finlandia 4-2

OPPONENTS

• Finlandia competes in the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference (NCAA-Dlll)
• Finlandia finished the 2021 season with a record of 6-12-0

NEXT

The Sabercats travel to Ripon, Wisconsin to take on Ripon College on Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. Follow along at mbusabercats.com/schedule.