Eagles Overcome Thunder For Fourth Straight Victory

ANKENY, Iowa—The Faith Eagles jumped to a 2-0 first half lead over the Manhattan Christian College Thunder before the lightning and literal thunder came and delayed the game for over an hour at halftime.

Coach Backous said before the season started that he thought this Eagles' team was the one that could finally take down perennial power Manhattan, a team the Eagles had not defeated since 2015. Using their momentum from Friday night's big win over ninth-ranked Barclay, Faith came out of the gates with tenacity and an aggressiveness that visibly frustrated its opponent for the second day in a row.

Joshua Forgie was the hero of the first half offensively, putting the Eagles on the board with goals at 23:25 and 37:05. The second goal was a particular thing of beauty as the Eagles boxed in a Manhattan inbounds play, intercepted the pass, and sent Forgie on a curl around several Thunder defenders for a perfectly-booted ball into the net.

The lightning and thunder arrived at halftime, causing not only a lengthy delay, but also causing the Eagles to lose the momentum and energy they had in the first half. Manhattan found new life with just under 30 minutes to play, cutting the Eagles' lead to one with a goal by Chris Smith III. Things got physical the rest of the way, but Faith was able to secure the 2-1 victory and a possible spot in the next top ten rankings. MCC ended with eight shots on goal compared to six for the Eagles.

Faith travels to Lincoln, Nebraska, on Tuesday for a game with Union College at 5 p.m.