Tuesday's Scoreboard
Kentucky 2, Bowling Green 0
SIUE 1, UMKC 0
West Virginia 4, Ohio State 1
Northern Illinois 1, Milwaukee 0
Stories Courtesy of MAC Sports Information
Kentucky 2, Bowling Green 0
Box Score
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- A pair of second-half goals lifted the University of Kentucky to a 2-0 win over the Bowling Green State University men's soccer team Tuesday night (Sept. 24). The loss drops the Falcons to 4-3-1 on the season, and it marks BGSU's first setback on the road this year.
UK's Daniel Evans volleyed a ball into the net off of a corner kick in the 48th minute to give the hosts the lead for good. Khalil Elmedkhar then scored the second goal of the night for the Wildcats on a counterattack, slotting a ball inside the far post to make it a 2-0 match roughly 13 minutes later.
Kentucky goalkeeper Enrique Facusse and the Wildcat back line allowed just three shots on the night and two on goal. Freshman Michael Montemurri recorded both shots on goal for the Falcons, with both coming in the final 10 minutes of the match.
NEWS, NOTES AND NUMBERS
• Kentucky was ranked No. 23 in the nation in the latest United Soccer Coaches poll, released earlier on Tuesday, and the Wildcats are No. 18 in this week's College Soccer News poll.
• The Falcons scored the opening goal in each of the season's first six matches, but the opposition has gotten on the board first in each of the last two contests. BGSU is 4-1-1 when scoring first and 0-2-0 when allowing the game's first goal.
• As mentioned, Tuesday night's match was BGSU's first road loss of the season. The Falcons are now 2-1-1 in true road matches and 3-1-1 in all contests played away from home.
• BG started the same lineup for the fifth consecutive match. The Falcons had six players play all 90 minutes with the back line of Michael Montemurri, Tom Wrobel, Achille Robin going the distance along with Zach Buescher, Jensen Lukacsko and goalkeeper Anthony Mwembia.
• Lukacsko, Robin and Mwembia have played every minute of every match this season.
• Freshman Abdi Faqi made his second appearance of the season for the Falcons, playing 19 minutes off the bench.
• Mwembia faced 12 shots on the night, but was credited with just one save.
• Bowling Green had four corner kicks to Kentucky's two, while the Wildcats committed 12 fouls to BGSU's nine.
• Tuesday night marked the first match that Chris Brennan and Chris Sullivan were held without a shot, according to the final stats.
• For Brennan, the UK match snapped his point-scoring streak at six matches.
• The Falcons were held scoreless for the first time this season and the first time since last year's 2-0 setback to Western Michigan in the MAC Tournament semifinals.
SIUE 1, UMKC 0
Box Score
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – SIUE men's soccer finished off its two-game road swing with a shutout win at Kansas City Tuesday afternoon.
The Cougars earned a 1-0 win after Jorge Gonzalez's team and Mid-American Conference-leading sixth goal of the season in the 79th minute.
"This was our fourth game in 11 days and we have some heavy legs and our depth is a little down," SIUE Head Coach Cale Wassermann said. "I thought we earned the win today."
The goal came off a Cougar corner kick. Jorgen Pettersen delivered the kick into the center of the box where Jorge Gonzalez finished it with a half-volley from 10 yards away.
"He's been an absolute animal," Wassermann said of Gonzalez. "He's a creative player so he might not get as much credit for how physical he plays. Around the goal he has been lethal.
"I give credit to our whole team for putting him in position," Wassermann added. "But he now has six goals in seven games and that is hard to do."
Lluís Martorell, a redshirt sophomore who has been in the program for three seasons, made his first career start in goal. He turned away a pair of shots to earn his first shutout.
"We have strong goalkeeping core," Wasserman said. "They all push each other every day. Lluís has bided his time and he has earned the chance. He was really strong today in his distribution and in his command of the box."
Wassermann also cited senior Kashaun Smith as a key to SIUE's win.
"He's a senior who hasn't played a ton this year, but he was waiting for his time," Wassermann said. "He shined today. He changed the game in the second half with his play."
The Cougars outshot the Roos 11-5 and put five shots on goal. Kansas City goalkeeper Filippo Errico made four saves.
SIUE now returns to Korte Stadium for the annual Homecoming game Saturday against Central Arkansas. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
"We're coming into the homecoming game with some momentum," Wassermann said. "We'll be excited to get back home."
West Virginia 4, Ohio State 1
Box Score
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The West Virginia University men's soccer team used three second-half goals to help it take down Ohio State, 4-1, on Tuesday night at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium in Columbus, Ohio.
After leading 1-0 at halftime, the Mountaineers conceded a goal in the 50th minute before responding with three unanswered goals in the victory. Senior midfielder Andres Muriel Albino tallied a pair of goals to help WVU improve to 5-2-1 on the year.
"It was a fantastic effort from the group," WVU coach Marlon LeBlanc said. "I have an incredible amount of praise for the team for coming out tonight and the performance we put on – on the road – against a very, very good Ohio State team. Scoring four goals tonight, for us to break out of that little funk that we got ourselves into the last game and to come out here in the fashion that we did was a reward for the effort the guys put in."
Senior defender Albert Andres-Llop nearly put the Mountaineers ahead early when he smacked the post seven minutes in on a shot from distance. Later, West Virginia grabbed its first lead in the 18th minute when it was awarded a penalty kick, which was cashed in by Muriel Albino.
Four minutes later, Ohio State (5-3) almost found the equalizer on a chance inside the Mountaineer box but the flag went up for an offside to keep the match at 1-0.
In the 35th minute, junior forward Tsubasa Takada sent a screamer over the goal, tallying one of the Mountaineers' six first-half shots.
West Virginia led, 1-0, after 45 minutes.
In the second half, though, the Buckeyes wasted little time making their impact on the match. OSU scored on a header inside the box off a corner kick to tie the match at 1-1, but the Mountaineers responded in a big way just three minutes later. Junior defender Kevin Morris fired a shot that was deflected in front of the goal and in for an own goal to put WVU back in front.
Five minutes later, Muriel Albino scored his second of the night after a nice run down the pitch. The Sevilla, Spain, native found space and shot from the left corner of the box and beat the Buckeye keeper far post to put WVU up 3-1.
West Virginia put the finishing touches on the road victory in the 63rd when freshman midfielder Luke McCormick registered his first career goal off an assist from sophomore forward Tony Pineda. After McCormick received the pass, he slashed across the box to curl one around the Buckeye keeper.
With the win, the Mountaineers improved to 3-1 on the road this season. It also was WVU's third multi-goal performance in its last four matches.
WVU outshot Ohio State, 12-8, including a 5-2 edge in shots on goal. The Buckeyes recorded five corner kicks to West Virginia's four.
Next up, West Virginia returns to Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium to host Penn on Saturday, Sept. 28. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. ET.
The contest is the International Student Appreciation Game and the first 250 fans will receive a stadium horn to help cheer on the Mountaineers.
Northern Illinois 1, Milwaukee 0
Box Score
DEKALB, Ill. – Redshirt freshman Enrique Banuelos (Mexico City, Mexico/Virginia) scored in the second minute of overtime to lift the Northern Illinois University men's soccer team to a 1-0 victory over Milwaukee on Tuesday night (Sept. 24) at the NIU Soccer Complex. Banuelos' 25-yard free kick gave the Huskies their third consecutive victory and helped NIU retain the Lewang Trophy.
"That was a good Milwaukee team, tough to breakdown," said NIU head coach Ryan Swan. "This one feels a little like a conference game, being a local rival and playing for a trophy, so it had a little more of an edge this one. I thought the guys did well and I think they are ready for the tough games coming up."
Milwaukee (4-4-0) had the first good chance of the contest in the 10th minute as combination play down the right wing led to a great chance from Evan Conway inside the box but NIU redshirt freshman goalkeeper Martin Sanchez (Bloomington, Minn./Kennedy) made an excellent save to keep the contest scoreless in the early going.
Sanchez made four saves while picking up his first career clean sheet.
NIU (3-4-1) nearly took the lead through sophomore Pierce Ugarte (Oak Lawn, Ill./Oak Lawn) in the 18th minute. A well-worked Huskie set piece culminated with a free header for the Huskie center back inside the six-yard box, but he couldn't direct his effort on target.
Four minutes later, sophomore Nick Markanich (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) found a bit of space inside the box and fired a shot inches wide before taking a tackle from a Panther defender. The Huskies had a narrow, 53 percent edge in possession in the opening 45 minutes but the teams went into the break deadlocked.
Just after the hour mark, senior Jan Maertins (Rheinfelden, Germany/Marquette) had the first chance of the second stanza for NIU, whistling a shot wide.
In the 70th minute, Sanchez was called upon for the only time in the second half, stopping a shot from Conway as both teams continued to look for the breakthrough.
A Huskie corner kick in the 77th minute was half-cleared by the Panther defense before finding its way wide right for the Huskies. Junior Carlos Valdez (Houston, Texas/Richland College) swung a cross into the box where Markanich connected with an audacious overhead kick that sailed just high.
NIU had two more half-chances before the end of the 90 minutes but neither threatened the Milwaukee goal as the contest went into overtime.
Less than two minutes into the extra period, junior Alex Welch (Carmarthen, Wales/King's College Madrid) drew a free kick about 25 yards from goal. Banuelos stepped up and rocketed a shot into the upper left-hand corner, past a helpless Freddy Lorenzen in goal for Milwaukee, who could get nowhere near it, as the Huskies raced away in celebration of the overtime, game-winner.
"I thought the winner might come from Enrique or Lawrence (Kwazema)," said Swan. "Both came on late and have the ability to win games. It was great, Enrique's first career goal for us, and such an important one. He does that all the time in practice, so we figured there was an opportunity there."
NIU will take its three-game win streak on the road on Saturday, September 28, as the Huskies visit Western Illinois. Kickoff against the Leathernecks is slated for 1 p.m.
