River Forest, Ill.—The Dominican University Men's Soccer team returned to West Campus Field for their conference opener against MSOE on Wednesday afternoon.
Results:
Dominican: 2
MSOE: 2
How it Happened:
-MSOE started out the gate on fire, rifling off the first six shots of the match, but none of them found the target.
-The foot did not come off the gas for Raiders with three more shots being sent at the net, this time Freshman goalkeeper Alexander Julian Garcia made a couple saves to keep the match tied at 0.
-Senior
Tristen Banquil earned the first shot of the match for the Stars in the 25
th minute of the match that the MSOE keeper saved.
-Two minutes after Dominican's first shot, DU struck gold with Junior
Travis Fowler scoring his first goal of the season inside the 18-yard box. Junior
Jonathan Almaguer assisted on the goal.
-MSOE regained the momentum with two quick shots that Garcia made saves on to keep the Stars in front.
-Junior
Nolan Oates just subbed on after the goal had a one-on-one opportunity thanks to a great pass from Banquil, but Oates's shot sailed over the bar.
-DU had all momentum on their side in the 38
th minute of the match when Sophomore
Enzo Cinque was driving to the net and forced a Raider player to the ground for a slide tackle. This tackle brought out a red card, and MSOE played with 10 players from the 38
th minute on.
-Banquil took the free-kick from the red card and fired a shot on target that was saved by the MSOE keeper.
-The Stars went into the halftime break leading 1-0, even though MSOE collected 11 shots in the first half along with 3 corner kicks.
-The second half had a slow start with both schools feeling each other out since the red card. The first shot of the half came in the 54
th minute by MSOE, which Junior
Roberto Navarro Mercado saved to keep the score at 1-0 in favor of DU.
-Banquil earned the next two shots of the match, one was saved by the Raider keeper, while the other missed the target.
-The Stars scored their second goal of the game with Sophomore
Eduardo Lopez streaking down the middle of the pitch. Banquil finds Lopez, and Lopez did the rest, burying his first goal of the season.
-Dominican held a 2-0 lead with 24 minutes left to play, and MSOE was forced to open the playing field looking for any momentum.
-The Raiders found the first strike in the 75
th minute of the match that made the score 2-1.
-After this goal both teams went for the win. DU looking for that insurance goal, while MSOE looking for the equalizer.
-After teams traded shots for the following 5 minutes, MSOE buried the tying goal in the 82
nd minute of the match.
-The Raiders found themselves in a scoring position one minute later that hit the crossbar and stayed out of the net. This was the final shot of the match, with both teams tying at 2.
-Dominican was outshot in the match 20-10 but had 5 shots on target, while MSOE had 6 shots on target.
-The Stars did not earn a corner kick in the match.
Shining Stars:
-Junior
Travis Fowler scored his first goal of the season in the 26
th minute of the match. This was Fowler's only shot of the match.
-Sophomore
Eduardo Lopez buried his only shot of the match for his first goal of the season.
-Senior
Tristen Banquil collected 4 shots, and 3 of them found the target. Banquil assisted on Lopez's goal.
-Junior
Jonathan Almaguer earned an assist on Fowler's goal. Almaguer also earned 2 shots in the match.
-Freshman Alexander Julian Garcia held a clean sheet in his 45 minutes, making 3 saves.
Leading the Way:
Goals: Fowler and Lopez (1)
Assists: Almaguer and Banquil (1)
Shots: Banquil (4)
Shots on Goal: Banquil (3)
Saves: Garcia (3)
Minutes: 4 players (90)
What's Next:
Dominican University Men's Soccer moves to 2-1-1 on the season and 0-0-1 inside the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference. The Stars will be right back in action this weekend with a road conference match at Marian University. Kickoff will be set for 5:00 p.m. between Dominican and Marian.
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