The Dominican University men's soccer team pushed their winning streak to six matches, their longest since 2014, with a 1-0 win over the Illinois College Blueboys in non-conference action at West Campus Field on Sunday afternoon.
 
The lone goal of the match came in the 40^th minute when Nicolo Vitale blasted home a rebound after Illinois College's Ty Clearwater made a point-blank save on Dominican's Frankie Saiz. The rebound bounced right to Vitale with an open goal ahead of him.  The goal was the first of the season for Vitale in his tenth match of his rookie season.
 
"At the end of the game, posting a shut-out and finishing a ball is what it takes to get the win," said Erick Baumann, the Stars' head coach. "We did both of those today as our freshman goalkeeper got his first collegiate start and shut-out while one of our freshmen forwards scored his first collegiate goal and it ended up being the game-winner.  That's great to see. With that said, we busy but ineffective in the final third.  We played too slow and were not as creative as we have shown to be. To their credit, Illinois College was very organized and got a great game from their keeper."
 
The Stars completely dominated the stat sheet, getting off 29 shots while allowing just two shots for Illinois College.  Freshman goalkeeper, Alfredo Recendez posted the shutout victory in his first collegiate start, making a pair of saves.
 
Dominican is now 6-2-2 overall with a return to Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) play up next on the schedule when the Rockford University Regents visit West Campus Field on Wednesday. Kickoff is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.
 
"This team has the potential to do special things," commented Baumann. "We know what needs to be done and it all comes down to each player committing to doing it on a consistent basis."