Box Score Chicago, IL - The Tigers traveled to the Windy City to take on rival Moody Bible Institute Saturday afternoon.  Recent history has showed this match-up to result in a very competitive game until the final minutes, and this year's game was no exception.
 
Grace would be without starting All-Region playmaker Jorge Leon, starting left back Ramiro Vega-Cruz, and freshman talent Zak TerMeer.  This provided an opportunity for the Tigers to come together and step up.  The Game would start with Grace controlling the match and then a score early on thanks to a free kick strike from senior and three-time All-American Daniel Sischo.  The game would then be a bit of back and forth as both teams had to deal with difficult field conditions due to weather. 
 
The game would progress with the Tigers getting solid opportunities but unable to capitalize on them.  Moody would fight back and created a couple chances of their own but would be denied by keeper Jentzen Mehl and an extremely hardworking line of defense.  Sophomore All-Region defender Ethan Savoy received a second booking for a hand ball that stopped play and was sent off.  This pushed the Tigers to work even harder together to ensure they would not allow any pressure from Moody to break them.  The team would prove resilient and indeed keep the clean sheet, winning the match 1-0.
 
Grace relied on their quality depth, and each guy that got on helped play a massive role.  Freshman Michael Chahoua got his real first taste of action since joining the squad and did some very good things.  Freshman Kendall Nieuwenhuis put in a solid shift, and sophomores Kwabena Kusi-Appiah and Ethan Michael along with senior Brandon Olson were instrumental in key areas of the game. 
 
Head Coach Dustin Buchanan weighed in on his team's performance.
 
"The past week was a challenging one for us as a whole, but we had some very good sessions later on in the week and I could tell the guys were responding well.  For the game it was taken to another level.  There was more togetherness than I have seen and I can't state how proud I am of the guys and everything they showed out there.  The fire, passion, positive support every single player displayed was a beautiful thing.  Sometimes difficult situations can make you stronger and I have no doubt this was one of them.  We knew we would have to play hard and with some grit, and we did exactly that.  Dylan DeVries really stepped up playing a different role and put in a man of the match performance, maybe the best he has had in a Tiger's kit.   The result was great, but how we did it was something special and that is because of each one of those guys out there."
 
This makes it two in a row for the men's soccer team after beating Randall University 4-1 last week.  They move to 2-2 on the season and remain unblemished at 2-0 thus far in NCCAA competition. The Tigers return to their home field to face a strong Illinois Tech side this Tuesday at Velting Field at 4:00 pm.