The Men’s Soccer team is finally on the board with their first win of the season.
Last Tuesday evening, the Saint Xavier University men’s soccer team beat the University of Saint Francis (Ill.) 3-0 at Bruce R. Deaton Memorial Field.
It was a beautiful fall night for soccer and the Cougars were ready to play. The team also welcomed back last years starting goalkeeper, 6’7” Kyle Held. This gave the team an extra boost as they prepared to play their conference opener.
The Cougars opened up scoring in minute No. 8 when freshmen defender Erik Diaz sent a strike from 40 yards out past Saint Francis’ freshman goalkeeper James Thorpe. The freshman keeper mistimed his jump and before he knew it the ball was soaring over his head and into the back of the net.
It was Diaz’s first goal of the season and put the Cougar’s in front 1-0. Later on in the first half the team would build their lead when sophomore forward Marco Gutierrez scored on a header off of a nice throw-in by senior defender Dale Judickas.
Held made his presence felt in his return, making several sensational saves in the first half to prevent Saint Francis from trying to get back in the game. He made a huge one for the Cougars when the Fighting Saints came close to converting a corner kick near the end of the first half.
In the second half, the Cougars were looking to put the game away and that is when Diaz struck again. The freshmen from Pena, Durango, Mexico scored using a header off a great corner kick from junior midfielder Brandon Simoes.
The Cougars had an offensive explosion in this game considering their recent early season offensive woes. The Fighting Saints were not able to mount a comeback and Held stood tall in goal, literally, with seven saves to preserve the shutout win.
The game was intense and got a little physical, resulting in SXU getting three yellow cards, but the team kept their composure and showed good sportsmanship.
After finally earning their first win of the season, the team traveled to Holy Cross College (Ind.) on Sunday for another Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) game. The Cougars were hoping they had enough momentum from Tuesday night to take down The Saints.
The team played a tough, close game, but The Saints prevailed 1-0 on Sunday afternoon. Held got the start once again for the Cougars and he played well once again, only allowing one goal after the Saints had seven shots on goal.
The game was close throughout but a late first half goal sealed the Cougars fate. The Saints of Notre Dame, Ind., scored off a brilliant corner kick by senior midfielder Garbhan Grant that set up senior defender Niko Jelicic.
The men of SXU soccer tried to keep the pressure on, generating 13 total shots for the game with nine of them being on goal. Judickas along with fellow teammates junior midefielder Tom Lojek and junior forward Lorenzo Savino each had two shots on goal for the team.
The loss dropped the team to 1-6-0 and 1-1-0 in conference play, and Holy Cross improved to 6-2-0 and 2-0-0. The game was close and a rugged defensive game that saw only one goal scored. The game also saw seven yellow cards, three for Saint Xavier and four for Holy Cross.
The teams were definitely extremely competitive, but would you expect anything less in a match between two conference foes?
The team is definitely happy to see Held back on the field as he has perfomed great back in goal not skipping a beat. He posted 13 saves in two games so far for the Cougars. Hopefully, he is the impenetrable last line of defense that will stonewall opponents on a regular basis.
Men’s soccer is trying to build more momentum after their first win as they start to play more conference games. Conference play is tough but the Cougars are primed for a run.
The team will look to rebound this Wednesday at home against Judson University (Ill.) in another CCAC match up. The team is having early season stuggles but with the support of Cougar nation they will continue to play hard and work hard. Everybody should go to their next home game so the team can hear the chants of the supporting crowd.
Damone Griffin
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