WMU And NIU Earn Wednesday Night Victories
Wednesday’s Scoreboard
Northern Illinois 1, Western Illinois 0
Western Michigan 3, Cincinnati 1
Stories Courtesy of MAC Sports Information
Northern Illinois 1, Western Illinois 0
Box Score
DEKALB, Ill. -- Freshman Diego Sanz (Mompia, Spain/La Marina) scored his first collegiate goal as the Northern Illinois University men's soccer team recorded a 1-0 victory over Western Illinois on Wednesday night at the NIU Soccer Complex.
Junior goalkeeper Konrad Dziedzic (Schiller Park, Ill./West Virginia) posted his third shutout of the season as the Huskies improved to 4-2; Western Illinois fell to 1-4-1.
"We said coming into this week that we wanted to stop the goals against after giving up five goals in two games," said NIU head coach Ryan Swan. "We have done that today, we gave up very few chances, got the early lead. We created a lot of chances, the shots on goal and opportunities created were really good."
NIU went in front in the 13th minute on a goal by Sanz. The Huskies won a free kick out wide and sophomore Alex Welch (Carmarthen, Wales/King's College Madrid) whipped a ball into the box that was headed by freshman Anthony Markanich (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) toward Sanz who headed past Western Illinois goalkeeper Tim Trilk to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead.
"Diego was saying that it was his first goal in three years (at any level)," said Swan. "It is nice that he got that. We had focused on set pieces this week, we were hoping to get something from a corner kick or a (free) kick, so that was pleasing. Anthony (Markanich) did a great job winning the ball and Diego got himself into fantastic position to finish it off."
The Huskies nearly took a 2-0 lead in the 30th minute as junior Jan Maertins (Rheinfelden, Germany/Marquette) got on the end of a cross but sent his effort high. Three minutes before halftime, senior Kevin Rodriguez (Pasadena, Texas/Deer Park) cut inside and fired a shot that looked destined for the upper corner of the goal before being deflected away by the head of a Leatherneck defender.
After halftime, NIU's first chance came in the 58th minute as the Huskies countered a Western Illinois corner kick but the shot from Maertins was blocked.
Junior Christian Molina (Katy, Texas/Mayde Creek) had a chance to double the NIU lead in the 67th minute, but his shot was fought off by Trilk as Western Illinois remained within one.
In the final five minutes of the contest, freshman Nick Markanich (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) had a pair of chances to put the game out of reach. The first opportunity came after a good ball from Welch slipped the Huskie freshman in alone on goal but Trilk stayed big to deny the opportunity. Less than a minute later, Nick Markanich had another chance as he was in alone on the Western Illinois goalkeeper and dragged his shot wide.
The Huskies will conclude their current three-game homestand on Tuesday night, Sept. 18, as they host UIC. Kickoff against the Flames is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Western Michigan 3, Cincinnati 1
Box Score
CINCINNATI, Ohio - The Western Michigan men's soccer team used three first-half tallies to earn its first road victory of the season, winning 3-1 during a midweek road match at the University of Cincinnati on Wednesday, Sept. 12, improving its overall record to 3-4.
It took 30 minutes into the first half for the Broncos to record a season-high with three goals as Kosti Moni notched his second goal of the game and team-leading fourth of the season, on a penalty kick.
Moni scored his first goal of the game just six and a half minutes into the match, receiving the ball outside the center of the box and finishing in the right corner. Cameron Sipple and Zack Shane were credited with the assists. Moni's two-goal performance stands as the first in his career.
Ben Thornton notched his second goal of the season at the 20 minute mark, heading in a corner kick from Sipple as WMU gained a 2-0 lead. Cincinnati and Western Michigan traded goals within the following 10 minutes to make the score 3-1 in the Brown & Gold's favor, where the score stood for the rest of the match.
"We were very sharp the opening half," said head coach Chad Wiseman. "We really stuck to our game plan and rewarded ourselves with three goals. The goals came in different ways as well and we were really starting to take our chances better in the final third."
In the first 45', the Broncos held a 8-5 shot advantage along with a 4-0 corner kick lead, but the Bearcats came out strong in the second half to gain the lead in both categories.
The home team generated six corner kick opportunities and outshot Western Michigan 8-2 in the second half. Cincinnati kept the pressure on the WMU defense throughout the remainder of the match, forcing goalkeeper Lukas Von Lienen to come up with several big saves.
"In the second half, I thought we got away from what we wanted to do," Wiseman said. "I thought Cincinatti played with more commitment and energy. We showed great leadership though to see out the result. When you score three goals you should expect to win, that's what we did. Our first road victory, it's important to show and prove you can win on the road."
Despite the pushback from the Bearcats, the Broncos held on for their second-straight victory. Von Lienen made three saves for his second win of the season in net, improving his record to 2-1-0.
Up next, Western Michigan returns to WMU Soccer Complex on Saturday, Sept. 15 to host the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Kickoff is scheduled for 12 p.m.
"UMBC comes to town Saturday, they're another top 30 team on our schedule, it's going to be a great test for our guys," Wiseman concluded.
