Saturday’s Scoreboard
Saint Mary’s 5, Northern Illinois 0
FIU 1, Akron 1
SIUE 3, Valparaiso 0
Stories Courtesy Of MAC Sports Information
Saint Mary’s 5, Northern Illinois 0
Box Score
DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University men's soccer team fell to 10th-ranked Saint Mary's (Calif.) 5-0 on Saturday night (Oct. 5) at the NIU Soccer Complex. The Gaels scored within two minutes of the beginning of each half in the contest.
"It was a tough lesson for all of us," said NIU head coach Ryan Swan. "That is a premier team, I thought they were exceptional and really beat us in every aspect of the game. Physically they were better than us, they moved the ball better, they were more organized that us. The good news is there are some things we can fix pretty quickly, we can get the mentality right, but it was a disappointing evening."
Saint Mary's (9-1-0) needed less than 90 seconds to open the scoring as Boyd Curry climbed above the crowd to head home a corner from Andres Engebretsen, giving the Gaels a 1-0 lead in the second minute.
NIU (4-6-1) redshirt freshman goalkeeper Martin Sanchez (Bloomington, Minn./Kennedy) made a save on an effort from Jake Rudel in the 10th minute, but two minutes later the Gaels doubled their advantage as Jakub Snehlik fed Joseph Restani who sliced through the Huskie defense and found room to tuck a shot into the corner to give Saint Mary's a 2-0 lead.
The Huskies had their best chance directly from a corner in the 40th minute as freshman Luis Hernandez (Mesquite, Texas/Lone Star) but a corner kick off the crossbar. On the scramble off the rebound, senior Ethan Pitre (Minneapolis, Minn./Prairie Seeds Academy) had an effort from close range stopped by Saint Mary's goalkeeper Remi Prieur as the Gaels took a 2-0 lead into halftime.
After the break, Restani setup Rudel for the third with a flicked header from just outside the six-yard box for Saint Mary's in the 47th minute.
Engebretsen scored directly from a corner kick in the 54th minute, bending the set piece inside the back post for an "olympico."
The Gaels finished the scoring in the 73rd minute as Sebastian Schacht and Restani combined down the right side before the low cross by Restani was steered home by Rudel.
Sanchez finished with four saves in the contest for the Huskies, Prieur made one stop between the posts for the Gaels.
NIU will return to action on Tuesday night, October 8, when the Huskies host Eastern Illinois. Kickoff against the Panthers is scheduled for 6 p.m.
FIU 1, Akron 1
Box Score
AKRON, Ohio - The University of Akron men's soccer team played arguably its finest match of the season, but the Zips (1-7-1) were unable to score a golden goal and settled for a 1-1 double-overtime draw with No. 10 Florida International (7-0-3) on Saturday, Oct. 5, at FirstEnergy Stadium.
Akron registered a season-best 22 shots, including posting a 7-2 edge in shots on goal, while limiting the Panthers, the NCAA's third-best offense, to 10 shots.
Freshman Will Jackson (Hudson, Ohio) garnered a career-high six shots for the Zips, including three on goal, while freshman Mani Austmann (Gardabaer, Iceland) added a career-best five shots of this own to spark the offensive efforts for Akron. Alessandro Campoy directed FIU with a team-high five shots.
Redshirt junior Tor Saunders (Seattle, Wash.) nearly collected his fourth career shutout in the match before finishing the contest with one save. Daniel Gagliardi concluded the evening with five stops for the Panthers.
Only a sliding save by Gagliardi at the 8:29 mark prevented Jackson from scoring his first career goal to give the Zips an early 1-0 lead. Jackson's redirection of the deflection was blocked, before a strike from sophomore Sam Tojaga (Erie, Pa.) went high.
Gagliardi denied a shot by Jackson with a save in the 11th minute (10:39).
Junior David Egbo (Enugu, Nigeria) came within inches of scoring a goal for the Zips at the 37:59 mark as his free kick from just outside the right side of the box hit the crossbar.
The continued offensive pressure for Akron paid off at the 42:33 mark when Egbo was taken down in the box by Gagliardi after a strong pass in stride from freshman Jaden Wright (Lorain, Ohio). Egbo stepped to the line and successfully converted the penalty kick to send the Zips into the intermission with a 1-0 lead.
Akron posted a 10-2 margin in shots in the opening 45 minutes of play.
Egbo began the second half unleashing a laser of shot in the box in the 48th minute (47:34), a shot that was thwarted by a save from Gagliardi.
Continuing the offense attack, Jackson got behind Gagliardi in the box at the 56:20 and delivered a strike that only a deflection for a team save by a diving Nick O'Callaghan prevented the Zips from extending their advantage to 2-0.
Just over a minute later in the 58th minute (57:38), Austmann struck a shot that Gagliardi denied once again for a save.
FIU registered its first shot on goal in the contest at the 67:41 mark, a shot from Campoy that was rejected by a Saunders' diving save.
The Zips were forced to adjust their line-up late in the game and the Panthers capitalized swinging the momentum of the match slightly in their favor registering a 5-3 edge over the final 20 minutes of regulation.
FIU netted the equalizer at the 86:30 mark when Andrew Booth headed home his fourth goal of the season. The play was set up by a corner kick delivered from Alban Rousselet into the box where Owen Green headed the ball from the near post to Booth on the far post for the goal.
Sophomore Carlo Ritaccio (Westbury, N.Y.) got off Akron's last shot of the second half in the 88th minute (87:44), a strike that was pulled in for a save by Gagliardi.
The Panthers appeared to garner the golden goal off the foot of Booth at the 93:25 mark only to see the tally disallowed after FIU was whistled for an offsides call.
Sophomore Colin Biros (Jackson, Ohio), Jackson and Austmann each recorded shots for the Zips in the first overtime, unfortunately for Akron, none of the strikes fell on frame.
Both shots in the second overtime were blocked as the matched ended in a draw.
Up next for Akron, the Zips travel to Indianapolis, Ind., for a 7 p.m. tilt on Tuesday, Oct. 8, at Butler.
SIUE 3, Valparaiso 0
Box Score
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – Lachlan McLean scored twice and the SIUE's defense held strong as the Cougars defeated Valparaiso 3-0 Saturday at Korte Stadium. It is the Cougars' fourth consecutive shutout win.
SIUE improved to 6-3-1 overall and 5-1 at home this year. Valparaiso fell to 2-7-1.
McLean's first came at the 11:05 mark when he pounced on a rebound after a hard shot from Jorge Gonzalez was saved. Gonzalez and McLean hooked up again just 1:29 later when Gonzalez carried a ball almost to the end line before sliding a pass across the six-yard box where McLean tapped in for a 2-0 lead.
"You see what happens when we put numbers in front of goal and guys like that can bury chances and make it difficult," SIUE Head Coach Cale Wasserman said. "I was thrilled to get the two-goal lead and even more thrilled to finish 3-0 with another cleansheet."
The Cougars' third strike came in the 69th minute on a set piece. Jorgen Pettersen delivered a free kick into the box, Matthias Krigbaum headed towards the back post where Jacob Bilyeu finished for his second goal of the year.
SIUE outshot Valpo 12-9. SIUE put nine shots on goal. Valpo goalkeeper Jorn-Jan van de Beld made six saves.
Cougars' goalkeeper Lluís Martorell turned away all four shots on goal from the Crusaders to secure his fourth straight cleansheet. Perhaps Valpo's best chance came in the 66th minute after a free kick from just outside the box. Valpo's Jonas Engler hit a low drive and Martorell made a diving save to his right.
The Cougars will have a week off before traveling to DeKalb, Illinois to open Mid-American Conference play Oct. 12 at Northern Illinois.
"For us to win four on the bounce and be going into a road trip with some confidence is positive," Wassermann said. "The most positive thing for us is that we have a full week to train and prepare and rest and recover and to go into NIU a little more fresh and a little more prepared against a very good MAC team."
