NEW ULM, Minn. - The Martin Luther College men's soccer team returned to the winner's circle with a 2-1 victory over Minnesota Morris on Friday.

The Knights came out of the gates strong, and capitalized on that early effort with a Josiah Wordell goal in the 12th minute off an assist from Lucas Martin. The goal was Wordell's third this season, and pushed the Knights into halftime with a 1-0 advantage.

MLC continued to press to start the second half, and after UMM keeper Lucas Harmon stopped a penalty kick to keep the difference at one goal, Xander Heiman netted his fourth goal of the season off a David Martin corner kick in the 72nd minute to push the MLC lead to 2-0.

That insurance goal came in handy, as the Cougars got on the board in the 75th minute to cut the deficit in half, but the Knights held them off down the stretch to secure the 2-1 win.

Wordell led the Knights with four shots (three on goal) in the game, while Nathan Pausma added three total shots. For the game, the Knights out-shot the Cougars 14-11 overall and 9-5 in shots on goal.

Keeper Michael Friesenegger stopped four UMM shots for MLC.

The Knights improved to 3-12-0 on the season and 2-9-0 in UMAC play. UMM fell to 5-11-1 on the season and 5-5-1 in league play in defeat.

MLC will return to action tomorrow (Saturday, October 23) when it hosts Crown College in a game scheduled to kick off at 3:30 p.m.