It was a chilly night last Wednesday when the Saint Xavier University men’s soccer team took on Calumet College of Saint Joseph.
The weather definitely reminded people of the fall season and added on a slight drizzle during the game. The Cougars weren’t fazed, though, because they continued their hot streak with another conference victory.
The team entered Wednesday night’s game looking to rebound from their one-goal loss a few days earlier to Olivet Nazarene University. The matchup started out as a slow back-and-forth affair with neither team able to generate much offense until the 22nd minute.
That’s when sophomore forward Marco Gutierrez got ahead of the defense and received a nice pass from junior defender Rene Leon to score the first goal of the game and give the Cougars a 1-0 lead. Gutierrez was able to chip the ball over the keeper to score his team-leading ninth goal of the season.
Calumet College of Saint Joseph would tie the game up a few minutes later off of a free kick by senior defender Andrew Yousif that was redirected by his teammate, junior sweeper Stewart Thur. The goal knotted the game at one and it would stay tied until halftime.
The go-ahead goal would be scored early in the second half by junior midfielder Brandon Simoes off an assist from junior midfielder Tom Lojek. Lojek had a free kick that he passed on to Simoes and he used the opportunity to bury it in the back of the net.
The Cougar defense, led by senior goalkeeper Kyle Held, stopped the Crimson Tide for the rest of the game and the team came away with a 2-1 win.
Held had seven saves for the Cougars as he continues his impressive season. He has been stingy in goal so far this season, allowing one goal or fewer in every game he’s played except one, and his goals against average is 0.88.
The team finished with 12 total shots for the game and 10 of them were on goal. This marked the last home game of a three-game home stand.
Their next game was a road match in Palos Hills, Ill., against Trinity Christian College. On Saturday the Cougars took the field looking to build on their success from earlier in the week against Calumet College of Saint Joseph. The team was led to their fifth win in the last six games by Simoes, who recorded his first hat trick of the season.
The Cougars opened up scoring in the 33rd minute when Simoes received in an assist from Lojek to make the score 1-0.
Late in the first half Trinity Christian would get on the scoreboard thanks to senior forward Joey Bahena, who provided the assist, and senior forward Noe Quirarte, who was the recipient. The game would stay tied going into halftime.
The Cougars and Trolls would continue to fight with the score tied until Simoes broke up the deadlock in the 70th minute of game action. He scored his second goal of the game off of an unassisted shot from the top of the box. Simoes completed the hat trick in the 88th minute of action by scoring off of an assist from freshman midfielder Kamil Szczesniak.
It was a great defensive effort from the team, allowing only four shots on goal for the whole game.
Held stood tall in goal again for the Cougars, making three saves on the day to continue his fantastic season.
Saint Xavier men’s soccer has been on fire since starting the season 1-6. It was tough sledding early on, but the team is 6-7 overall now with a 6-2 record in conference play.
They have been led by Brandon Simoes and former CCAC offensive player of the week Marco Gutierrez, who have combined for 17 goals and five assists this season. Held has been brilliant in net during this remarkable stretch for the Cougars.
Coach Ed Vucinic has done an incredible job of rallying the team after the rough start they had to the season. He has them tied for second place in the CCAC Conference and find themselves only a half game behind first place Olive Nazarene.
The next game for SXU is another conference game in Arlington Heights, Ill., against Robert Morris University on Nov. 5.
Damone Griffin
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