UIC's win over Gonzaga Highlights Friday Action

Friday, Sept. 20 Schedule:

Buffalo 2, Detroit 2 (2ot)
Green Bay 4, Eastern Illinois 4 (2ot)
Tulsa 4, Valparaiso 0
Northern Kentucky 2, Wright State 1
UIC 1, Gonzaga 0

Buffalo 2, Detroit 2 (2ot)

DETROIT (9/20/2013) -- Senior Adam Bedell posted his first two goals of the season, but a late charge by the Buffalo Bulls forced overtime as the University of Detroit Mercy men's soccer team tied UB, 2-2, on Friday afternoon at Titan Field.

Detroit (0-2-4) came out with a lot of energy to start the game, putting a chance on net early, but UDM would finally get on the board at 28:56 as senior Kevin Pinkos delivered a great pass to Bedell - the 2012 Horizon League Player of the Year - who was able to beat the keeper on a header for his first of the season.

The Titans then ran their lead to 2-0 at the 23:49 mark as Bedell ripped one to the back of the net off a direct kick from 20 yards out.

UDM would end the stanza up 2-1 and outshooting Buffalo 8-5. Junior Nathan Steinwascher also had three first-half saves to make sure the red, white, and blue stayed in front.

In the second half, Detroit was still able to get some quality looks but just could not extend its lead. Buffalo then took advantage of a foul in the 18-yard box setting up a penalty kick with just a little more than 10 minutes remaining as the Bulls conversion knotted it all up at 2-2.

Neither team had any great opportunities in overtime as only four shots were taken in the extra 20 minutes, giving Detroit its fourth tie of the season.

Steinwascher ended the afternoon with six saves, while Bedell led the offense with his pair of goals on five shots.

The red, white, and blue will be back in action on Sunday as the Titans host Jesuit-rival Canisius in a soccer doubleheader at Titan Field. The men will open things up against the Golden Griffins at 11:00 a.m., with the women to follow in a non-conference affair against Stetson at 1:00 p.m. Admission to both games and to all regular season games this year are FREE!

Green Bay 4, Eastern Illinois 4 (2ot)

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (GreenBayPhoenix.com) – The Green Bay men’s soccer team rallied from two deficits before sending the match to overtime and ending in a 4-4 draw with Eastern Illinois in game one of the ProRehab Aces Soccer Classic on Friday evening in Evansville.

A high-scoring affair, the eight total goals came from four players, with Green Bay’s Sam Krenzien (Wauwatosa, Wis.) and Defrim Ramushevski (South Milwaukee, Wis.) and EIU’s Garet Christianson and Jake Plant each finishing with two goals.

A combined five goals went up on the scoreboard in the opening half. Eastern Illinois started the scoring just 37 seconds into the action with a header goal by Jake Plant.

Green Bay rattled off the next three goals of the match to take the lead, 3-1. Krenzien headed home a cross from AJ Patterson (Menomonee Falls, Wis.) in the 13th minute to tie the match at 1-1. It took him 1:15 to strike again, running ahead of Brandon Hall (O’Fallon, Mo.) on a breakaway, eventually colleting a cross and finishing from 10 yards out giving the Phoenix the lead, 2-1.

Krenzien continued his offensive assault, serving as the set-up man for Ramushevski in the 26th minute. Camping out by the near post, Ramushevski headed a cross from Krenzien into the net, building the Green Bay advantage to 3-1.

EIU’s Garet Christianson added a goal for the Panthers in the 35th minute, but Green Bay maintained the lead going into the break.

Plant notched his second goal of the match for Eastern Illinois in the 55th minute, chipping the ball over the head of Dary DeWalt (Milwaukee, Wis.) to once again knot the score, 3-3. Not to be outdone, Christianson added his second goal of the match, collecting a loose ball and defeating two defenders to put the Panthers ahead again, 4-3.

However, Green Bay dug deep and showed its resilience in the 85th minute. The duo of Krenzien and Ramushevski struck again when Krenzien found the head of Ramushevski on a throw-in, sending it to the back post to draw the score even at 4-4.

The Phoenix held the advantage in both overtimes outshooting the Panthers 10-3, including 3-0 on goal, but they were unable to capitalize.

Posting some gaudy numbers, Green Bay outshot EIU 35-20 for the match and held an 11-4 edge in corner kicks. Krenzien recorded a match-high 11 shots in addition to his two goals and two assists. DeWalt played the entire match in net, making one save.

Green Bay returns to the pitch on Sunday, taking on NJIT at noon in its second match of the ProRehab Aces Soccer Classic in Evansville

Tulsa 4, Valparaiso 0

Tulsa, the #12 team in the country, was able to take a 1-0 lead over Valpo in the 15th minute of play on a Crusader error and would not look back.  The Golden Hurricane would go on to score three additional goals to hand the Crusaders their first loss of the season.

“We were definitely second best on the night; Tulsa is ranked #12 in the country and looked every bit that good tonight so you have to congratulate them,” said head coach Mike Avery.  “To be fair, I thought it was a performance by us that left a little bit to be desired.”

Valpo looked sharp early on in the match, earning a corner kick after a good spell of possession in the 10th minutes of the match.   The Crusaders were unable to make anything of the early chance, however.  Minutes later, the Golden Hurricane was able to finish a chance of its own on a Kyle Cumings goal in the 15th minute.   The first half would end in a 1-0 Tulsa advantage.

The #12 Golden Hurricane would have the better of play in the second half.  Tulsa would continue to be opportunistic, capitalizing on mistakes made by the Crusaders.  The Gorden Hurricane would add goals from Akeil Barrett, Omar Mata, and Cristian Mata to make the score 4-0.  The Crusaders were able to create chances late in the game with Nick Suker (Downers Grove, Ill./South) forcing the Tulsa goalkeeper to make a save and Julio Velasquez (Albuquerque, N.M./Cibola) hitting a ball just wide of frame.

“I think we could look at a lot of different reasons why we had this result tonight – we had some tough travel yesterday, the numbers of road games we’ve been playing, and all those things,” said Avery.  “But at the end of the day what really happened was that we ran into the really tough Tulsa team and they made us pay for every mistake that we made.  That was really the story of the game; we were doing fine in the game and we made one error and they capitalized.  They capitalized on our mistakes and that’s what good teams are able to do.”

Tom Serratore (Tinley Park, Ill./Andrew) came up with 3 saves on the night for the Crusaders.  Suker, Velasquez, Omar Lawrence (Kingston, Jamaica/Excelsior), and Zev Taublieb (Malibu, Calif./Agoura) each took shots for the Crusaders.  With the result, Valpo moves to 2-1-3 on the season, with tonight’s game being the only blemish on what is an impressive starting record.

“The good news is that it this loss only counts as one loss in the record, and the other really good news is that we get to play again on Sunday,” said Avery.  “Even though it’s a quick turnaround for our game and we’ve got some travel to get to Western Illinois for a game on Sunday, we’re excited to put this behind us and get back on the field and get going again.  We’re a lot better than we played tonight and we’ll show that come Sunday.  I think the guys will be ready for a good performance on Sunday.”

The Crusader men are back to work this Sunday as the team travels to Western Illinois (1-5-0) to take on the Leathernecks.  Live stats for Sunday’s match will be available through ValpoAthletics.com.  Stay connected to the team as they travel to Western Illinois by following @VUMSO on Twitter.

Northern Kentucky 2, Wright State 1

Northern Kentucky scored twice in a four-minute span and held off a Raider rally in the closing minutes for a 2-1 decision Friday night at rainy Alumni Field.

Ian O'Reilly gave the Norse a 1-0 lead at the 30:31 mark of the first half as he connected on a penalty kick following a yellow card on WSU.  Northern Kentucky then made it 2-0 at the 33:53 mark as a kick by goalkeeper A.J. Fleak took a crazy bounce by Wright State goalkeeper Craig Feehan for a goal.

Sophomore forward Erik Anderson cut the deficit to 2-1 at the 86:27 mark of the second half with his first goal of the season on an assist by freshman forward Eric Lynch, but the Raiders would get no closer.

WSU outshot NKU 8-6 in the second half, but the Norse led 12-10 in shots overall.

Wright State (1-3-1) heads to Durham, North Carolina, on Tuesday, September 24, for a 7:00 match against the Duke Blue Devils.

UIC 1, Gonzaga 0

CHICAGO - The UIC men's soccer team brought out a strong intensity to Flames Field Friday night, and was able to get the result it came for, by defeating nationally-ranked Gonzaga, 1-0, for its third-consecutive shutout win on the opening day of the UIC Soccer Classic.  Sophomore Jorge Alvarez scored the lone goal for the Flames, marking his third goal, and game winner, of the season.

With its fourth-straight win, UIC improves to a 4-2-0 record, while Gonzaga, who was recently ranked No. 19 in Soccer America's Top 25 and No. 24 in TopDrawerSoccer.com's Top 25, drops its first match since Aug. 30 and goes to 3-2-0 on the season.

"Anytime you play a team of the quality of Gonzaga, you want to win," head coach Sean Phillips said.  "We were able to get that, and the fact that it was a shutout was even better. We had some good goalkeeping early, some good individual and team defending as the game wore on, and we were pretty close to nipping a second goal a couple of times, but today was a championship type performance."

From the start of the game, the Flames and Bulldogs were neck-and-neck in their offensive and defensive zones.  Each team had plenty of opportunities to score, but in the 36th minute, UIC collected the only goal of the game, when Alvarez dribbled in to the top of the box and shot his third goal of the season past Gonzaga's senior goalkeeper Ryan Caballero.

The Flames added five additional shots in the first, three coming from Alvarez, as the Bulldogs attempted eight.  Freshman goalkeeper Andrew Putna made his four saves of the game in the first half, while collecting the shutout win and improving his GAA to 1.00.

The physicality of the match turned up heading into the second half, as UIC and Gonzaga collected 15 fouls a piece by the end of 90:00 minutes, with a yellow and red card being issued to the Bulldogs as well.  Offensively, the Flames were able to fire off four additional shots, with Caballero making three saves, as the Bulldogs shot seven.

"It was a very intense game," Phillips added.  "We felt we were on a good three-game winning streak.  The boys needed to give our loyal fans their most honest performance to date, and I think they did that. Not only did the players get rewarded for the win, but I think our fans got reward with a great performance by the guys and a win against a nationally-considered team."

UIC is back at Flames Field on Sunday for the final match of the UIC Soccer Classic.  The Flames are scheduled to go up against IPFW at 2 p.m. CT, with Gonzaga and Wisconsin facing off at 11 a.m.

"We have to continue to get better," Phillips said.  "If we're not careful, IPFW is going to be able to get a result. Our players have to take a mature approach to the game, which I think they are starting to exhibit.  Still a lot of things that have to get worked on, but we continue to go in the right direction and continue to do more and more little things right every game."