Men's Soccer Weekly Release #4

Sept. 19, 2005

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Horizon League Co-Players of the Week

Joshua Okoampa, UW-Green Bay
Junior * Forward * Brooklyn Park, Mich.
Okoampa tallied five points off two goals and an assist in UW-Green Bay's victory over Cleveland State on Sunday. Okoampa scored in the tenth minute for the game's first goal and added an assist before the half. Okoampa then tallied his fifth goal of the season in the 65th minute. He leads the Horizon League with 11 points, helping the Phoenix to a 4-1-0 ledger.

Andrew Ornoch, Detroit
Junior * Midfielder-Forward * Toronto, Ontario
Ornoch collected his first four goals of the season in leading Detroit to the championship of the adidas/Baymont Inn Invitational. The junior netted a hat trick with his first three goals of the season in the Titans' 3-2 victory over IUPUI on Friday and added the eventual match-winner in Sunday's 2-0 triumph over host Northern Illinois. Ornoch was named the tourney MVP.

Other Top Performances for the Week Ending September 18
Eric Cervantes, UIC
Junior * Midfielder * Hoffman Estates, Ill.
Cervantes kept the Flames unbeaten with his goal off a Pavle Dundjer corner kick in the fifth minute to propel UIC past Eastern Illinois, 1-0, on Sunday. It was the junior's first goal of the season after missing UIC's first two contests due to a knee injury, and the 11th of his career.

Reed Cataldo, Loyola
Sophomore * Midfielder * Birmingham, Mich.
Cataldo wasted little time in scoring his first collegiate goal, scoring within three minutes of taking the field to give the Ramblers a 1-0 lead in an eventual 2-1 loss at South Carolina. Cataldo, who did not see any action last season, was introduced in the 40th minute and hit the net three minutes later.

Steve Sperl, UW-Milwaukee
Junior * Forward * Wauwatosa, Wis.
Sperl helped pace the Panthers to a 3-2 victory over Bradley in their only game of the week. With UW-Milwaukee trailing 1-0 midway through the second half, Sperl scored back-to-back goals in a 4:58 span to give the Panthers a 2-1 lead in a game they would go on to win 3-2.

Dana York, Wright State
Senior * Defender * Clayton, Ohio
York scored the game-winning goal against host Vanderbilt in the finale of the Puma Classic. York's tally, coming with 94 seconds left in regulation for a 2-1 triumph, was the first in his Raider career. He netted two goals at Ohio State before transferring to Wright State.

News From Around the League

Flames using early goals, stingy defense to stay unbeaten
UIC won its only match of the week, defeating instate rival Eastern Illinois, 1-0, on an Eric Cervantes goal in the fifth minute. Pavle Dundjer's pass set up the only goal of the match, giving Dundjer a team-high four assists this season. His pace of 1.00 assists per game was fourth-best in the nation entering last week.

The Flames are the lone remaining unbeaten team in the League, continuing an impressive early-season run. Last season, UIC dropped its first five matches of the year and seven of the first eight. UIC didn't win its fourth match of 2004 until Oct. 24, but can match its win total for the entire season (5-12-2 last fall) with home-field victories over Loyola and Detroit this week.

One key reason for the turnaround has been the play of goalkeeper Jeff Engelbrecht and the UIC defense. After posting only one shutout last season, Engelbrecht has three clean slates in four matches, posting a 0.24 goals-against average with 19 saves. The relatively low save count is due to a defense which has yielded only 43 shots in four matches.

Phoenix gets first shot at top spot in League standings
UW-Green Bay opened the 28-match League schedule with a 5-1 victory over Cleveland State on Sunday, giving the Phoenix the early lead in the standings. Joshua Okoampa and Tosaint Ricketts each scored a pair of goals for UWGB, which has posted four victories in five matches in the early portion of the schedule.

Ricketts' effort came in his first game as a starter for UWGB. The Canadian had come off the bench in each of the team's two contests in Colorado, and drew the opening nod against Cleveland State. His two first-half goals helped stake the Phoenix to a 3-1 halftime advantage.

The Phoenix take a step outside the League this week, taking on two Mid-American Conference foes in Northern Illinois (Wednesday) and Western Michigan (Sunday).

Sperl pushes Panthers past Bradley
UW-Milwaukee forward Steve Sperl scored twice in a five-minute span midway through the second half to give the Panthers a 3-2 victory over regional power Bradley in the team's only action of the week. Sperl's two markers equal his yearly total for each of his first two seasons at UWM.

Junior midfielder Craig Mallace extended his scoring streak to five consecutive matches by setting up Sperl's first strike. His five-match run is the eighth-longest in school history, while his five assists top the League charts in that category. Mallace has already tied his career high with seven points, matching his 2004 total (three goals and one assist).

The victory over Bradley saw the Panthers score three times against a BU defense which had allowed just one goal in its first four matches of the year. It also lifts UW-Milwaukee to 12-1-0 in the Panthers' last 13 contests at Engelmann Field.

Bulldogs come up empty in western road trip
Butler matched its third-longest, season-opening winning streak at five in a row in Tuesday's 1-0 victory over intra-city rival IUPUI, giving coach Joe Sochacki his 50th victory as Bulldog boss. That early-season run came to an abrupt end, however, with back-to-back losses at the TLC Plumbing & Utility Invitational in New Mexico. James Madison shut out BU 2-0 on Friday before Wisconsin added a 1-0 blanking on Sunday.

Freshman Eduardo Garcia scored his first collegiate goal against IUPUI, with an assist from senior midfielder Scott Olsen, who took over sole possession of third place on the all-time Butler assist chart with his 20th career helper. Three of those have come this season.

Senior goalkeeper Frank Peabody's four shutouts this season give him six for his career, putting Peabody seventh on Butler's all-time chart.

Titans hit the net, win a pair of matches
Perhaps a two-week layoff was the perfect medicine for Detroit, which captured the championship of the adidas/Baymont Inn Invitational over the weekend. The Titans had gone scoreless in 300 minutes and three matches entering the event, but Andrew Ornoch's hat trick defeated IUPUI 3-2 on Friday and Ornoch added the eventual match-winner versus host Northern Illinois on Sunday. Jason Massoglia added an insurance marker in that 2-0 decision.

Ornoch collected 12 goals and three assists (27 points) last fall but had not garnered a point before the weekend. His four goals drew tourney MVP honors and give him 20 for his career.

Sophomore goalkeeper Sasha Boskovich recorded eight saves in Sunday's shutout giving him 23 stops for the season. It was his third shutout of 2005, and his line also features a 0.75 goals-against average.

Raiders working late to salvage split at Vanderbilt tournament
Wright State scored twice in the final 11:30 to overcome a 1-0 deficit Sunday, defeating host Vanderbilt, 2-1, in the Puma Classic. WSU had dropped a 1-0 decision to Western Kentucky on Friday.

Tony Labudovski's goal at 78:31 evened the match with VU, ending a 297:07 scoreless streak for the Raiders dating back to Sept. 9. Dana York then prevented overtime with the match-winner, hitting the net with 94 seconds left in regulation. Jason Balach recorded 11 saves over the weekend, giving him 29 for the year.

That triumph gives WSU momentum heading into Friday's League-opener at Detroit. Wright State has won its last three League debuts, and has split its last six meetings at UDM (2-2-2). Four of those six meetings have required overtime.

Bench provides a spark for Ramblers
Two Loyola reserves made an immediate impact, as Tony DeLuca and Reed Cataldo came off the bench to make key contributions for the Ramblers. DeLuca scored his first goal of the season just 15 seconds after stepping onto the field in Friday's 2-2 draw with the College of Charleston, and Cataldo wasn't far behind on Sunday. Cataldo hit the net less than three minutes into his first collegiate appearance, providing the lone LU tally in a 2-1 overtime loss to tournament host South Carolina.

Freshman goalkeeper Brad Sommer had the best outing of his young career in Sunday's contest, recording 11 saves to take the match into overtime despite USC's eventual 32-10 advantage in shots. Loyola also played all of extra time shorthanded after a red-card expulsion.

Vikings continue search for victory
Cleveland State saw its losing streak reach five consecutive matches with road defeats at Robert Morris (3-0 on Wednesday) and UW-Green Bay (5-1 on Sunday). The Vikings have now been outscored 30-7 this season.

Of the seven CSU goals, six are by players who did not have a collegiate marker prior to 2005, and five are by players in their first season at CSU.

Steve Trapp's two goals and five points top the Cleveland State scoring charts while Anthony DeMarco leads all Horizon League netminders with his 39 saves. DeMarco stopped ten shots against UW-Green Bay

Early-Season Trends in the Horizon League
According to one old adage, "timing is everything." Through the first three weeks of the 2005 men's soccer season, here are some trends which have emerged among Horizon League teams:

Horizon League:
Eight of the 13 matches involving League teams last week ended in shutouts. League teams already have 14 shutouts in 38 matches this fall, with Butler posting four while Detroit and UIC each have three.

Butler:
The Bulldogs have scored in the first ten minutes of a match twice while not allowing a first-half goal so far. Four other contests have remained scoreless for over 60 minutes before late tallies.

Cleveland State:
Of the 30 goals CSU has allowed this year, 18 have come in the final 30 minutes of regulation. Cleveland State has been outscored 19-2 after intermission, compared to 11-5 in the first half.

Detroit:
The Titans had gone 321 minutes without a goal in 2005, but has now scored five times in the last 169 minutes. UDM's five matches have featured a combined total of nine goals and 106 shots.

UIC:
The Flames have not allowed a second-half goal this season. UIC's first four opponents have managed just one goal and 43 shots, with 19 of those coming in the season-opener.

Loyola:
Scoring first is not a sure sign of success with the Ramblers, as the team accomplishing that feat is just 2-2-1 this season. LU opened the scoring twice over the weekend but finished 0-1-1 in that span.

UW-Green Bay:
Of the 12 Phoenix goals this season, three have come in the opening 15 minutes with four other markers either in the last 15 minutes of regulation or overtime.

UW-Milwaukee:
The Panthers sit at 3-1-1 overall despite scoring first in only two of their first five matches. UW-Milwaukee has a 7-4 scoring margin following intermission.

Wright State:
Sunday's late heroics were poetic justice of sort, considering the Raiders have given up six markers after the 60-minute mark. WSU has yielded only three goals before that point of the match.