The Dominican University men's soccer team played the 18
th-ranked UW-Platteville Pioneers to a 2-2 draw on Sunday afternoon at Ralph E. Davis Pioneer Stadium in Platteville, Wisconsin. The draw pushes the Stars to 8-5-1 on the season with three matches remaining on the Stars' regular season schedule.
"It was a wild and hard fought game today," said Erick Baumann, the Stars' head men's soccer coach. "The guys showed resilience, coming back with two quick goals to level the score. It was a good weekend for our team and the team chemistry. We have three big conference games left and need to take them one game at a time."
After a scoreless first half, things opened up over the final thirty minutes of regular time. The Pioneers opened the scoring in the 61
st minute, taking advantage of a Dominican miscue that led to Teon Fountain touching around
Brendon Martin at the top of the 18-yard box before finishing to an open net for his fourth goal of the season.
In the 79
th minute, Platteville added to its lead when Braxton Rottinghaus beat Martin from 16 yards out.
In the 81
st minute Dominican cracked the scoreboard when
Nicolo Vitale pressured the Pioneers' Nate Miller, blocking the goalkeeper's clearance with the ball caroming into the goal for the sixth goal of the season for the Stars' junior.
The Stars then leveled the score eighty seconds later when Vitale flicked a pass to
Denis Soldo making a run up the right side. Soldo centered a pass for freshman
Jonathan Hernandez who knocked in his sixth goal of the season.
With just three shots taken through two overtimes, two for the Pioneers and one for the Stars, neither team was able to find the golden goal.
In total, the Pioneers held a 17-9 advantage in shots with shots on goal closer at 10-7. Martin made eight saves to earn the draw in his first start of the season.
Dominican returns to action on Wednesday, taking the short trek down Division Street to meet the Concordia University Chicago Cougars in a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) match. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. as part of a doubleheader with the women's soccer team in the Northwestern Mutual River Forest Rivalry Cup Series.