Saturday’s Scoreboard
SIUE 2, Northern Illinois 1
Akron 2, Bowling Green 1
Stories Courtesy Of MAC Sports Information
SIUE 2, Northern Illinois 1
Box Score
DEKALB, Ill. – SIUE men's soccer opened Mid-American Conference play with 2-1 road win at Northern Illinois Saturday. SIUE scored twice in the opening minutes on its way to a fifth consecutive win.
"It's a huge win to start conference season," SIUE Head Coach Cale Wassermann said. "We went up two goals early. Earlier in the season we had struggled with some slow starts, but we have fixed that and recently have been better to start games."
The Cougars improved to 7-3-1 overall and are 1-0 in the MAC. NIU slipped to 5-7-1 overall and 0-1 in the MAC.
Steven Bibas put the Cougars on top in the fourth minute when he took advantage of a deflection and slotted home into an empty net. Jorge Gonzales picked up the assist. Gonzalez then scored his MAC-leading eighth goal of the year when he headed home a corner kick from Jorgen Pettersen in the eighth minute.
"We were able to capitalize on some chances early," Wassermann said. "We had the wind at our back and that helped."
The Huskies got on the board in the 11th minute when Jan Maertins scored his fourth goal of the year for NIU.
"It was a really nice goal which came in transition and it kind of woke us up," Wassermann added. "From there we were able to manage the game."
SIUE played with against the wind in the second half, which proved a challenge.
"It was hard to get out of our half in the second half," Wassermann said.
The Cougars also were forced to play without goalkeeper Lluís Martorell, who was lost to an injury in the 62nd minute after making four saves. Noah Heim played the final 28 minutes and made two saves to preserve the win.
"Credit to Noah Heim, who came in and was ready to play," Wassermann said. "As I have stated, I have all the confidence in our goalkeeping core and it's a good problem to have when you have two goalkeepers ready for MAC play."
SIUE remains on the road to face Wisconsin in Madison Tuesday night.
"Anytime you play a Big 10 team you are going to get a talented and athletic team," Wassermann said. "It is a tough place to play and they get some good crowds."
Akron 2, Bowling Green 1
Box Score
AKRON, Ohio - The University of Akron men's soccer team garnered goals from redshirt junior Diogo Pacheco (Lisbon, Portugal) and freshman Will Jackson (Hudson, Ohio) en route to opening Mid-American Conference play with a 2-1 triumph past Bowling Green (7-4-1, 0-1-0 MAC) on Saturday, Oct. 12, at FirstEnergy Stadium.
The Zips (2-8-1, 1-0-0 MAC) dominated the contest registering a 20-6 edge in shots, including posting a season-high 10 shots on goal for a 10-3 advantage in shots on frame.
Jackson and senior Christian Lue Young (Plantation, Fla.) led Akron's offensive attack posting a game-high four shots apiece, including two shots on goal each, while Pacheco added three shots in reserve duty. Six different Falcons added one shot apiece.
Junior goalkeeper Joe Bowles (Stratford, England) collected two saves in net for the Zips to earn the victory, while Anthony Mwembia turned in a stellar effort for the Falcons registering eight saves.
Making his return to the Akron line-up after missing the last two contests, Pacheco made an immediate impact for the Zips after being inserted into the match at the 26:51 mark, as he connected on what proved to be the game-winning tally in the 34th minute (33:06). Sophomore Pol Hernandez (Teia, Spain) delivered a ball just to the top of the box that was deflected by Jackson to the feet of Pacheco, who struck a laser into the corner of the net for his first goal of the season.
Akron took a 1-0 lead into the intermission on the strength of a 4-2 edge in shots in the opening half.
The Zips dialed up their offensive firepower in the second half recording a 16-4 margin in overall shots and a 9-2 advantage in shots on goal.
In what he later described as a moment he had been dreaming about since third grade, Jackson netted his first collegiate goal at the 58:36 mark, off a strike from 22 yards out, one that bested Mwembia and gave the Zips a 2-0 lead.
Sophomore Colin Biros (Jackson, Ohio), Jackson, Hernadez and freshman Mani Austmann (Gardabaer, Iceland) connected on shots on goal in the 60th (59:25), 65th (64:22 and 64:57) and 67th (66:24) minutes, respectively, that were thwarted by saves from Mwembia.
A defensive turnover at the 69:32 mark allowed Bowling Green to cut the Zips' lead in half as Chris Sullivan scored his fifth goal of the season.
Akron continued to pepper the Falcons with shots as the Zips closed the contest with a 6-2 edge in shots, including strikes on net from Lue Young (71:42 and 77:27), Hernandez (73:31), and Austmann (77:20).
Bowles notched saves at the 86:30 and 87:48 marks, respectively, off shots from Achille Robin and Abdi Faqi.
Up next for Akron, the Zips welcome Michigan State to FirstEnergy Stadium for a rematch of their 2019 College Cup showdown with the Spartans on Tuesday, Oct. 15 at 7 p.m.
