Held's pair of goals leads Miners to win in opener

Andy Held

Andy Held started out the 2007 soccer season by picking up where he left off last fall.

Held headed in a pair of free kicks Saturday afternoon to provide all the scoring as the Miners opened their season with a 2-0 victory over Ashland at the UMR Soccer Field.

Held, who led the Miners with 11 goals in 2006, got UMR on the board at the 16:50 mark when he got a head on a free kick by freshman Daniel Stokes and redirected it by goalkeeper Blaize Lishewski.

That would be the only goal the Miners would score in the first 45 minutes, despite holding an edge in play for the most part and outshooting the Eagles 10-4.

At the 65:11 mark, Ashland’s Max Hiltner was given a red card for a flagrant foul just outside the penalty area and the Miners made the Eagles pay just three seconds later. Brandon Moore’s serve into the box got to Held and he put it away by reserve keeper Ryan Cruise to extend the lead.

The Miner defense took care of the rest, allowing only four shots to reach goalkeeper Mike McNamee as the senior goalkeeper recorded his 13th career shutout, one shy of the UMR all-time record.

UMR outshot the Eagles 17-9 for the game.

The Miners will play two games in Kirksville over the Labor Day weekend, starting with a contest next Saturday against Missouri Southern.