MANKATO — “We had so many chances, I can’t even remember them all,” Marshall head coach Tony Correa said of the boys soccer team’s 3-1 road win over Mankato Loyola Thursday night.

He didn’t necessarily mean this in a positive way; his eam performed well and was able to get up close and personal with the goal all night, but struggled to convert at times. Despite winning by multiple goals, Correa says he could have seen his team doing even more.

“We could have been up by a lot in the first half, but–not to make excuses–they had a hard, bumpy grass field, and it affected our touch a little bit,” Correa said. “I liked what they were doing, but they couldn’t finish.”

One of the players who could finish was Christian Mejia, who scored his second goal in his second game with the team to get things started for the Tigers.

Luis Ulloa scored on a penalty kick late in the second half to extend the Tigers’ lead to 3-1. The goal was Ulloa’s 16th of the season, putting him well past the Marshall record of 13 with time still to extend his mark.

Ulloa has scored a goal in every game except one this season, with his one miss being against Worthington.

Team captain Lucas Kayser scored the goal to take the lead just before halftime. After the Crusaders has scored with under 10 minutes remaining in the half, Kayser took the ball himself to give the Tigers their lead back with fewer than five minutes remaining.

Correa described his team’s success in the game as a sort of culmination of the work that they’ve put in as a team all season. They were working together, trusting each other, and played confident and comfortably on the field that allowed all of the players to maximize their strength.

From the moment the boys hopped on the bus, they looked confident and ready to keep their win streak going, Correa said.

Alex Melendez-Gomez and Roberto Garcia each had solid games in goal. Melendez Gomez started the game, Garcia took over after halftime, and each keeper finished the game with two saves.

Following the win, Marshall (7-3) has three days off before their next game, when they go on the road to face Mankato West Monday at 7 p.m. in the hopes of extending their win streak to five games.