In any sport, sometimes the team wins, sometimes they lose, and sometimes both teams fight to a draw.

On Sept. 17, the Madison College men’s soccer team fought Joliet for the program’s first tie since 2010.

While Madison College struck first on the foot of Tim Kennedy, Joliet snuck in a goal in the second half and while momentum swung both directions, neither team could gain the edge needed to seal the game away.

One thing Madison College showed was increased aggressiveness, which pushed momentum their way on multiple occasions.

“I think we realized that Joliet is a better team than Rock Valley, and coach told us we needed to high press their D … they’ll lose their composure if we just put on a little pressure,” said Tim Kennedy. “It seemed to have worked in the first 20 minutes of the game … so I guess it kinda showed. We just have to keep that up for the full 90 minutes, but we’ll get there.”

Indeed, despite the fact that this was not a playoff game, the game actually went longer than 90 minutes. Unlike the professional level, the N4C does not calculate records off of points, so an effort is made to end the game with a winner, if possible. While a shootout did not happen afterward, as would be typical in a playoff situation, the overtime was composed of two 15-minute halves, which is normal.

While the team has yet to record a loss at home, its road record remained less than stellar at 0-3.  Madison College kicked off a stretch of four consecutive road games on Sept. 19. Prior to this road trip, Coach Corey Simms expressed confidence that his team could improve on that road record.

“We’ve got to go there … still got to play soccer, still got to play 90 minutes, or plus … can’t make too many excuses about travel,” he said.

So far the road trip appears to be a mixed bag.

On Sept. 19, Madison College beat Milwaukee Area Technical College by a score of 1-0 on a goal by Elliot Piper, out shooting MATC-Milwaukee 29-6.

However, the team fell against Triton, its first conference loss of the season, by a score of 2-1, being outshot 16-6. The team faced Rock Valley in Rockford on Sept. 26 and lost 1-0. It concludes the roadtrip at Harper College on Wed. Oct. 1. The next home game will be at noon on Sat. Oct. 4 against UW-Baraboo.