Milligan starts tourney on good note

By DALLAS COOK
STAR Staff

   As the Appalachian Athletic Conference Men's soccer tournament started off in high gear, so did Milligan's Dalan Telles.
   The senior led his team to a 4-1 win Tuesday evening over the Bryan College Lions, scoring three times while breaking the all-time school record in points as he surpassed the mark of 91 with his first goal in the game.
   "It was definitely a nailbiter," said Milligan College Marty Shirley coach about the game. "We had a lot of shots but unfortunately they went wide. I felt that once we were able to get one that would open it up for us."
   The game got off to a slow start as the Buffaloes netted the first goal by Telles at the 11th minute to take a 1-0 lead.
   Bryan later tied things up at 1-1 as Jamel Marshall worked his way through the Milligan defense and put the Lions on the board.
   "We made on mental mistake in the first half," Shirley said of his team's defense. "They had one shot and they scored on it. Overall I think we executed very well."
   After the half Milligan seemed to be getting shots on goal but nothing to show for as they had four balls shoot off of the Bryan goal.
   "We didn't execute offensively as well as we should have," said Shirley. "We had many opportunities, I certainly felt that we could have made more than what we did."
   Things would get going though for the Buffaloes as Telles gave his team a 2-1 lead with a goal at the 69th minute while three minutes later teammate Daniel Gacheru added a goal to make it 3-1.
   Moments later Milligan received an insurance goal from Telles who completed the hat trick and giving his team a 4-1 lead and eventually the win to advance to Friday's second-round match against Covenant.
   "It's astounding and it's also great for Milligan College," said Shirley of Telles' performance. "I'm excited for him. He's a great player and I look forward to him playing some more games and scoring more goals and assists."