Upper Iowa's unbeaten streak continues as they tie in-state opponent Mount Mercy 1-1.

Mount Mercy was on a three-game winning streak coming into the match, and they had just thrashed St. Ambrose by a score of 8-0. They had plenty of chances to get their 9^th goal in two games at the start of their match against the Peacocks, but senior goalkeeper Archie Watts was having none of that as he recorded three saves within the first 15 minutes of action. Graduate defender Daigo Adachi recorded the first shot of the game in the third minute of the game, which was saved by sophomore Alejandro Cuende. UIU would get their second shot on goal in the 21^st minute, which you'd assume would be attempted by a forward or midfielder. But nope, goalkeeper Watts took a free kick from beyond midfield that sailed perfectly on goal, forcing Cuende to make a jumping save.

The 24^th minute became very chaotic following a foul call on sophomore defender, and goal scorer from last game Florian Deick. Deick was given a yellow card which UIU head coach Jason Carlson was not happy about. He had a dispute with officials over the call and was given back-to-back yellow cards resulting in him being ejected from the game. This put graduate student and assistant coach Roberto Hernandez fully in charge, in only the third game of his coaching career. Each team recorded one shot on goal that was saved before the half, resulting in a 0-0 score 45 minutes into the game.

Mount Mercy had a great shot on the in the 56^th minute but Watts made an even greater save, diving at the ball and tipping it out of bounds. Perhaps that was the momentum builder the Peacocks needed because just four minutes later Adachi made a perfect pass to senior midfielder Patrick Carney who headed the pass into the top left corner of the goal for the first score of the game. Peacock players flocked to Carney to celebrate his goal which was also Adachi's third assist of the season.

Goalkeeper Watts would make three more saves during the course of the game, giving him a perfect eight saves on the day with no goals allowed. However, in the 76^th minute Watts went down with an injury giving sophomore goalkeeper JJ Gonzalez-Hayes the first appearance of his collegiate career. Gonzalez-Hayes spent his entire freshman season backing up Watts and he never saw the field in 2022. You would think a player may be a little nervous and could struggle in their first career game, but that was not the case for JJ. Seven minutes into his first career appearance Gonzalez-Hayes was faced with a one-on-one scenario as junior forward Keita Karasawa had made it past everyone on the defense. He took a shot on goal from the best possible position he was every going to get… and Gonzalez-Hayes made a phenomenal diving save. He would follow this up with the second save of his career in the 88^th minute.

A Peacock foul gave Mount Mercy a free kick with just one minute and thirty seconds left in the game, which the Mustangs took advantage of. Freshman midfielder Matteo Anzallo made a perfect pass right in front of the goal which teammate, sophomore forward Boris Dimitrov headed into the goal. This would be the final score of the game resulting in a 1-1 tie.

Upper Iowa will play their fourth home game in a row this Wednesday, Sep. 13 at 7 p.m. against Monmouth College. Monmouth is coming off a 1-3 loss to Edgewood College and they are currently 0-4 to start the year.