Box Score Bolivar, Missouri – The Upper Iowa men’s soccer team got its first taste of victory in the MIAA on the road Thursday against Southwest Baptist University, despite a demoralizing Bearcat goal less than two minutes into the match. The Peacocks found a way to fight back and earned back-to-back goals to take the lead at halftime. The Bearcats would tie the match just minutes into the second half, but Alan Martinez solidified the Peacock victory with a goal in the 78th minute. With the 3-2 victory the Peacocks improve to 3-4 overall and 1-1 conference play.

Five minutes into the match, it looked as if SBU's leading-scorer Karl Dupont would have his way with the UIU defense. Not entirely. Dupont did find Kaleb Romero, who scored easilty just one minute and 11 seconds into the contest totake a 1-0 lead, but Dupont was shut down for the rest of the half.

UIU answered offensively with an unassisted goal from Jared Devine, tying the match at 1-1.

It took two tries to find the back of the net for Devine, who is normally a strong defender, but in this instance found himself in position to score. After connecting with the post on the first attempt, Devine sailed a ball past the face of the SBU goalkeeper from left to right and found the net, for the freshman’s first goal of the season.

UIU wasn’t done there.

Less than three minutes after entering the match for the first time, freshman midfielder Rafael Pedroso put the Peacocks ahead 2-1 just before halftime thanks to an assist from Alejandro Castaneda. Pedroso entered at 34:26 and UIU took the lead at the 37:07 mark.

The lead held through halftime, but then Dupont got free.

Dupont took back-to-back corner kicks, neither of which were successful, but UIU was called for a penalty on the second. Dupont took the place kick and found Spencer Smith, who knocked in the goal to tie the game at 2-2.

The Peacocks, not known for high-scoring offensive outputs, answered one final time.

With time winding down, senior forward Dan Rasmussen found Martinez for the go-ahead score and eventual game-winner. It was inspiring to see Martinez get on the board for the first time this year after battling through injuries over the past few seasons. The senior, whose playing time has dwindled this year, saw just under 20 minutes of action against the Bearcats, but made his presence felt.

The 3-2 victory will give the Peacocks momentum heading into another MIAA match with a powerful Lindenwood University squad. The Lions, who have also defeated the Bearcats, are 4-1-2 this season. The Lions tied with Truman State at home, 2-2, on Thursday night, breaking a four-match winning streak. Saturday’s match is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. at Hunter stadium in St. Charles, Missouri.