Wisconsin Soccer Central

It was a cold and rainy Saturday night at Breese Stevens Field, but that didn't seem to bother the Quad City Eagles.

The newest members of the National Premier Soccer League Midwest Region came out with plenty of energy in their inaugural league match.

The host Madison 56ers, meanwhile, were missing that same spark. But goals by Marquette's Adam Lysak (Milton) and Keenan Newallo canceled out a pair of strikes by Emlyn Jacoby as the 56ers earned a 2-2 draw.

"The biggest thing in the first half was I didn't think we played hard enough," said Madison coach Jim Launder, whose team won the Midwest title last season. "I don't think we matched their intensity. I thought we did better with that in the second half."

Jacoby opened the scoring for the Eagles in their NPSL debut with an impressive 25-yard blast past 56ers goalkeeper Kyle Dillman (Madison La Follette) after Madison failed to fully clear a corner kick in the 13th minute.

"He's a strong leader for us, and the first goal was just class," Quad City coach Scott Mejia said of Jacoby, a South African who is an assistant coach at St. Ambrose (Iowa). "You're not going to see that that often."

But the 56ers answered 20 minutes later on a quality sequence. Midfielder Trevor Banks (Madison Memorial) started the play, switching play from the right side with a long ball to Andrew Wiedabach (Mequon Homestead). As defenders collapsed on Wiedabach, he squared the ball for Lysak, who was alone on the back post for the tap-in.

"I might have attempted that ball a couple times and it didn't quite get to him, so I guess third time's the charm," Banks said. "The grass is so long, after the second one I realized I had to over-hit it. It got to him, he handled it well and slotted in and Lysak was right there."

Madison looked much better in the second half, playing more one-touch passes and connecting sequences, even if nothing came of them. Banks was in the middle of much of the action.

"I think we had glimpses where we looked really good; that's the one thing that's kind of encouraging coming out of it even though we got the tie," Banks said. "We got some good stuff going at times. Once everyone gets back into the flow, starts training regularly, I think we'll be good."

"I thought in the second half, Trevor might have been the best player for us. He was very good," Launder said.

On the other side, Quad City created several quality chances against the 56ers backline that had Henry Aiyenero and Luke Goodnetter (Brookfield East) filling in as emergency center backs – Madison was without five central defenders due to injury.

"I thought we gifted them a couple of chances that they didn't take," said Launder, who repeatedly saw Eagles forward Kyle Yager break in on goal.

"They have some good players on that team. I don't think it's embarrassing to tie against them, because they are a good team. I think they were well-coached, they stayed organized."

All the pressure finally paid off for Quad City in the 70th, thanks to Jacoby – and a fortunate bounce.

Jacoby, who starred at NAIA Maine-Fort Kent and played for the Maine Sting in the NPSL Northeast Region, nailed a free kick from 23 yards out that deflected off the wall and past the wrong-footed Dillman for a 2-1 advantage.

Once again, though, the 56ers found an equalizer – and in short order.

Banks stood over a free kick from 35 yards out on the left side and lofted a ball toward the far post. Eagles keeper Nick Roman went up and tried to punch the ball but missed, and Newallo got his foot on it despite being between two Quad City defenders and bundled it into the goal just 2 minutes after Jacoby's second.

"I just wanted to get it in the mixer, in a place where it would make the goalie make a decision whether to come out or not," Banks said. "Fortunately, it took a pretty good bounce and Keenan happened to be at the right spot and at the right time and finished it."

Eagles substitute Austin Otto had the ball in the net again seconds later, but the goal was waved off as he was adjudged to be offside.

The 56ers had two great chances in the final minutes, but Lysak fired just over the crossbar in the 87th and UW-Milwaukee's Cody Banks (Madison Memorial) headed a cross from Goodnetter high in stoppage time – Trevor Banks said his younger brother told him the ball grazed the head of an Eagles defender just before it got to him.

"Unlucky," Trevor Banks said. "It looked like he should have put it away, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt."

In the end, a draw was probably the fair result.

"Hopefully, we learn a little bit about defending. I think that was kind of the struggle – not so much defending, but managing the game," Mejia said. "I thought we struggled to manage the game when we were holding the lead, just making good decisions defensively.

"But we learned that we can play a bit and we can get forward and attack with numbers. And we're still learning."

Quad City Eagles – Emlyn Jacoby 13
Madison 56ers – Adam Lysak (Andrew Wiedabach) 33
Quad City Eagles – Emlyn Jacoby 70
Madison 56ers – Keenan Newallo (Trevor Banks) 72

MADISON 56ERS: Kyle Dillman; Demba Camara (Derek Pitts 71), Henry Aiyenero, Luke Goodnetter, Ryan Buda (Carlos McCrary 78); David Kommavang (Aaron Nichols 46), Trevor Banks, Keenan Newallo (Robin Forlsund 88), Andrew Wiedabach (Sam Krenzien 60); Jed Hohlbein (Cody Banks 60), Adam Lysak. Substitutes not used: Ryan Onwukwe (GK), Anthony Santaga, Alfredo Ramirez.

QUAD CITY EAGLES: Nick Roman; Joe Froelich, Thomas Catania, Kurt Albrecht, Jaime Castrejon; Jon Sandoval, Scott Wallner (Jordan Collins 78), Kendrick Tyson (Max Muchow 87), Emlyn Jacoby, Derek Oelmann (Austin Otto 61); Kyle Yager (Eduardo Garza 65). Substitutes not used: Tyler Cowherd, Graham Nugent, Sean Fidlow.

Saves: M 3 (Dillman 3), QC 2 (Roman 2). Shots: M 10, QC 11. Fouls: M 11, QC 14. Corner kicks: M 3, QC 5. Offsides: M 1, QC 6. Discipline: M – Aiyenero (caution-foul, 57); QC – Jacoby (caution-foul, 44).