Spending the past week overseas facing the some of the best international soccer teams Europe has to offer, the Anderson University men and women soccer teams concluded their playing schedule last Friday on a positive note.

The AU men’s team defeated Rancell UK Premier 2-0 while the women’s program lost a hard-fought 3-1 game to Keighley FC.

Playing well from the opening whistle, the AU men’s squad put together its first complete match of the trip to net victory.

Paul Hill, an AU sophomore defender, started the scoring for the Ravens with a header past the keeper while sophomore midfielder Matt Young provided a great ball for the goal in the 36th minute.

In a very evenly played match, J.J. Darr, an AU senior forward, scored the deciding goal in the 82nd minute via a direct kick past the keeper from 32 yards out.

AU edged Rancell in shots 15-14 and totaled four corners to Rancell’s two.

AU senior goalkeeper Josh Hendrix started the first half with two saves, and sophomore Jordan Hobbs completed the second half with six saves.

“I was very proud of this team today,” said AU coach Scott Fridley. “We have a lot of new combinations and things to see before we start our season. These guys put together a complete match today. They were outstanding and really played well as one unit.”

Against Keighley FC, the AU women’s team held their ground after surrendering an early goal, facing an immediate deficit.

Down 1-0, the Ravens knotted the score in the 48th minute as Tara Sprague, a senior midfielder, threaded a pass to sophomore forward Michelle Noland for AU’s lone goal.

The game continued to stalemate until a late penalty kick called against AU, which altered the tempo of the match and the eventual final tally.

Though able to get a hand on the game-changing penalty kick, AU junior goalkeeper Kelsey Alcorn couldn’t slow the ball as it crept across the goal line to give Keighley the lead.

Keighley capped the game with a 35-yard shot to finalize the score. Despite the loss, AU recorded 15 shots compared to Keighley’s 12 while also out cornering their opponent 3-2.

Alcorn finished with fours saves for the Ravens.

“I felt the women played well enough to win this game; it just didn’t work our way tonight. We had many opportunities to make this game a different result. I was proud of our continued hard work on the field for 90 minutes,” noted coach Fridley.