The Dominican University men's soccer team picked up a 2-0 win on Saturday night in Naperville, Illinois, topping the North Central College Cardinals in the Stars' final non-conference tune-up before Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) league play begins for Dominican on Wednesday.
"We knew coming into tonight's game that they were a difficult team to play against," said Erick Baumann, the Stars' head coach. "We handled their direct style well, got the clean sheet and scored two really nice goals."
Dominican opened the scoring in the 42
nd minute, taking advantage of one of their three first-half corners when
Benji Ibarra's service found the head of
David Ortega who flicked before the ball was finished in the back of the net by freshman Ceasar Franco for his first collegiate goal.
The Stars' first half strike proved to be the game-winner as Dominican's
Gabriel Gongora logged five saves in facing eight shots to post his second shutout of the season.
In the second half, Dominican's
Adam Yaghmour added an insurance goal when he received a slip pass from
Jonathan Arzeta in the 80
th minute before beating Sebastian Garcia for his first goal of the season.
In total, the Stars outshot the Cardinals 11-8, putting eight shots on goal while North Central managed five on frame.
"Our guys have competed against some very tough non-conference opponents to begin our season and have grown a lot," commented Baumann. "I'm looking forward to opening up our conference regular season on Wednesday—this is a hungry team."
Dominican begins its quest to return to the top of the NACC with a match against Wisconsin Lutheran on Wednesday. Kickoff is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. at West Campus Field in River Forest.
