UNIVERSITY CENTER - The nationally third-ranked Saginaw Valley State University men's soccer team defeated the Ohio Dominican University Panthers on Friday (10/3) by a score of 2-1 at Braddock Field in a match-up of top GLIAC teams.
Both teams showed great defensive effort to start the contest. The Panthers broke the scoreless tie at the 34:39 mark when Andrew Schwall was able to deflect a ball from Michael Fragoulis into the back of the net.
SVSU out-shot ODU in the first half by a margin of 6-4 but trailed on the scoreboard, 1-0 heading into the half.
The Cardinals were able to get things going offensively in the second half. Senior Craig Neal tied the game when he scored his fifth goal of the season at the 56:37 mark of the second half. Neal was able to put back a rebound in the right side of the net after a Tyler Channell penalty kick.
Saginaw Valley was not done yet as they scored another goal about eight minutes later at the 64:46 mark. The short-handed Cardinals, playing with 10 after a red card, took the lead on a Michael Winters put-back after a Matthew Lang breakaway shot.
SVSU held on for the rest of the game with only 10 players on the field. Alexandre Bouillennec continued his unbeaten streak as the freshman made four saves in the game.
Head Coach Cale Wassermann was pleased by his team's effort in today's match...
"Unbelievable effort from the team today to battle through the adversity of wet field conditions, going down a goal on a free kick deflection for the second week in a row, and then having to come back while playing down a man," said Wassermann. "The work rate and organization defensively to seal the game shows how committed this group is to our goals and it's inspiring to watch. Lastly, Craig Neal came up huge again after Tyler Channell set him up to draw the penalty kick to equalize. But Michael Winters scoring the game-winner tops it all, as he has impressed us tremendously the last few weeks and is our third true freshman to score a game-winning goal this year, which is an unbelievable statistic! Big one on Sunday versus Lake Erie...rest, recover, prepare, and back at it!"
The Cardinals improve their record to 8-0-1 overall and 5-0-1 in the GLIAC as the Panthers fall to 6-3-0 overall and 4-2-0 in the GLIAC. SVSU returns to action on Sunday (10/5) against the Lake Erie Storm. The game is scheduled to begin at 2:30 pm at Braddock Field.
