MILLERSVILLE, Pa. – The No. 6 Millersville men's soccer team (1-0-1) ended its home opener against Ashland University (0-0-1) in a 1-1 draw on Saturday afternoon.  

The first 20 minutes of play were somewhat uneventful, as Christian Bowles was the only player on either team to fire a shot in, which ended up landing wide left of the frame.

The action quickly picked up in the 22' when Devven Frey committed a penalty in the Marauder box that resulted in an Ashland penalty kick. Haruki Kimura was able to convert the PK past goalkeeper Bobby Bosch to give the Eagles their first lead of the contest and season.

Less than two minutes later, Mike Kreider sent a ball from just past midfield that deflected off an Eagle defender to the feet of Bowles, the midfielder acted quickly and chipped the ball over the charging Ashland keeper to even the score at 1-1 and bring his goal total to three this season.

The Marauders owned the three highest quality scoring chances during second half action; however, Eagle keeper, Ty Bowdon made a handful of tremendous saves to keep the game tied until the 90'.

POSTGAME REACTION FROM HEAD COACH STEVE WIDDOWSON
Overall thoughts on the play: "Fairly disappointing overall. I think we about did just enough to maybe deserve the win but overall, we let ourselves down in too many situations. I don't think our mentality was great today and we didn't execute our game plan well enough. Obviously, the heat was bad and we had a quick turnaround from Thursday, but we can't look for excuses and need to be better overcoming difficulties and finding solutions."

Building on quality scoring chances moving forward: "It's always more important they we create chances because then the goals will come. Their keeper made a few great saves, but we also had several instances where our quality or decision making needed to be better and I think we would have picked up another goal if that area improved. We will focus on that part moving forward and make sure we execute better."

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
• Millersville held the edge in shots 13-8, and shots on goal 8-4.
• The Marauders held an edge in corner opportunities, 7-6.
• Aaron Maynard had three header chances in the box, all landing on frame.
• Bosch recorded three saved in the draw.

NOTES
• This was the Marauders' first meeting with Ashland, bringing the all-time record to 0-0-1.
• Christian Vorchheimer received the game's lone caution with just under eight minutes remaining in regulation.

UP NEXT
The Marauders will head to Wilmington, De. To face off with the Wilmington Wildcats on Wednesday, Aug. 31 at 4 p.m. .