Sports writer Victor Ratliff says the Golden Hurricane Soccer stadium erupted in cheers Tuesday night.
Hurricane Soccer Stadium was the place to be Tuesday night, as the 26th Mayor’s Cup Match between cross-town rivals Oral Roberts University and The University of Tulsa proved to be a nailbiter through all ninety minutes, eventually ending in a well-fought tie. This draw brought the Tulsa men’s soccer team’s record to 1-3-1 on the season.
This game brought the fans out in droves, and while Tulsa supporters made up the loud majority of the stands that night, Oral Roberts supporters were not absent either. The rivalry brought the noise fromTulsa fans, wholeheartedly delivering on the promise of home field advantage with deafening cheers and chants for the entire 90 minutes.
The Golden Hurricane started the game off hot, controlling the ball for the majority of the first fifteen minutes. However, despite two decent-looking shots from Camilo Vargas and Alvaro Torrijos, the score remained 0-0. After its opening storm, possession became more equal, and Oral Roberts fired its first shot off 25 minutes in, only to be saved by Tulsa goalkeeper Carlito Saylon. For the next fifteen minutes, the teams traded corner kicks to no avail, and both attempted to focus on controlling the pace of the game to find an opening for the tiebreaker.
40 minutes in,a Tulsa defensive player made a play in his own box to prevent a potential goal. The referees questioned the legality of this rather physical play, and took it to the Video Assistant Referee (VAR). They reviewed the play and, much to the chagrin of ORU fans and players alike, found no evidence of foul play. However, the Golden Eagles would not be denied, as three minutes later, Oral Roberts forward Luis Flores would put forth a good bit of ball skills to break the tie 43 minutes in.
Tulsa came out of the half swinging, putting pressure on the goal and notching two shots that would be saved by ORU goalkeeper Jakub Grzesiak. But the Oral Roberts defensive front wouldn’t hold for long, as 55 minutes into the game, on a rebound from a missed shot off of a corner kick, Tulsa midfielder Gyuwon Chong showed off his skills and put the ball in the back of the net to tie the game up at 1.
The Hurricane’s celebration wouldn’t last long though, as Oral Roberts immediately turned up the pressure. After exerting a stifling pressure on the box, it drew a game-altering penalty kick 60 minutes in. And, off the leg of Luis Flores, the ball made its way past the valiant effort put forth by Saylon and into the back of the net, giving the Oral Roberts forward his 2nd goal of the day to make it a 1-2 game.
The next 25 minutes were a wild back-and-forth filled with good shots, better saves, and plenty of physicality between the two squads. Tulsa tried to break the tie to no avail, and 65 minutes in, in a moment that elicited a collective gasp from the entire Hurricane Soccer stadium, Oral Roberts defender Schinieder Mimy delivered a lightning quick shot towards the bottom right of Tulsa’s goal. But thanks to the expert reflexes of Carlito Saylon, the Tulsa deficit stayed one.
As the clock ticked down, Tulsa grew more and more desperate. Its offense started playing far more aggressively, searching for that game-tying goal. And the Oral Roberts defense was barely keeping it at bay. With less than four minutes remaining, the Golden Hurricane lined up for an important corner kick. Tulsa chances to score grew thinner with each passing second, so it had to make this one count. The ball was sent into the box, and calamity broke. Tulsa forward Clement Badger’s first header was saved by the ORU goalkeeper, and ricocheted into the cluster of white and navy shirts that surrounded the goal. But, through a mix of a favorable bounce and good ball skills, Clement Badger was able to drive the ball into the back of the net, tying the game once more.
Hurricane Soccer Stadium erupted into its largest, and final, roar of the night. After the goal, neither team was able to come close to scoring again. Finally, the whistle blew, and the score stood 2-2.
While the Golden Hurricane would have loved to get the win Tuesday night, it showed a lot of heart, clawing its way back from a deficit twice, and tied a quality Oral Roberts team. With the 26th edition of the Mayor’s Cup in the books, Tulsa still has a commanding 21-3-2 lead in the series. The game has now been played three years in a row, so there is a good chance the Golden Hurricane may find itself facing its cross-town rivals again in a year’s time, where it will look to extend its series lead.
The weekend following this ordeal for the Golden Hurricane did not give any uplifting spirits for it. The men’s soccer team traveled to Omaha, Nebraska where it faced the Creighton Bluejays (4-1-2). Tulsa suffered a crushing 3-0 defeat after it committed too many costly mistakes on defense, and it now stands 1-4-1.
