KISSIMMEE, Fla. – Marc-Anthony Blackburn has made a lot of big plays for the Roberts Wesleyan University men's soccer team during his five-year career as a Redhawk.
The biggest, to date, came on Monday when the graduate student scored the winning goal as top-seeded Roberts defeated No. 9 Covenant College 3-2 in the opening round of pool play at the National Christian College Athletic Association Division I National Championships at the Austin-Tindall Sports Complex.
Blackburn buried the rebound of a Dylan Ruiz shot in the 78^th minute to give the Redhawks (9-4-6) a 3-1 lead. It was the midfielder's second career goal and first since converting a penalty kick in a 5-1 win over Daemen on Oct. 26, 2019.
"That was fantastic," Roberts coach Scott Reber said. "Marc is really the engine of our midfield, he's a captain and he works like a dog, so for him to get the winner is pretty special."
Roberts trailed 1-0 at halftime but leaned on its experience to roar back and score three unanswered goals in the second half.
Ruiz started the rally by converting a penalty kick in the 53^rd minute and then delivered his 15^th of the season off a beautiful feed from Tamas Nagy in the 76^th minute. Nagy stole the ball from a Covenant defender about 25 yards away from the Scots' goal, carried the ball into the box and found Ruiz in front for his fifth goal in two matches. Ruiz now has a program record 65 goals in his career.
"Big-time players rise to the occasion," Reber said. "I don't know what more I can say about Dylan. Once again, he came up big when we needed it."
Covenant (13-4-5), which had won six straight matches coming in, received a goal from Whitt Tisdale in the 10^th minute and made things interesting in the closing minutes after Nathan Laughlin scored in the 83^rd.
"To be honest, I thought that we started out a little tight and tried to force things too much," Reber said. "They really packed it in and it was hard break down the defense. We needed to be a little bit more patient, which we were in the second half when things started to go our way. Good teams find a way to win and that's what we did today."
Senior Jared Gibbons made stopped two shots for Roberts, which outshot Covenant 16-8.
The Redhawks will play sixth-seeded Central Christian College of Kansas in another pool play game at 1 p.m. Wednesday. The semifinals are scheduled for Friday and the championship match will be played at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.