CANTON, Mo.—The William Woods University men's soccer team will look to get back to its winning ways on Tuesday afternoon, as the Owls pay a visit to Culver-Stockton College. Kick-off is set to start at 3 p.m.
The Owls (1-0-1), are coming off a 1-1 (2OT) tie against Avila University on Sunday afternoon. After a scoreless first half, where WWU outshot the Eagles 7-1, all the scoring and excitement came in the second half.
In the 49
th minute, a foul and a yellow card was issued to an Avila player inside the box, awarding a penalty kick to WWU. Senior
Alan Matthew stepped up to the penalty dot and capitalized on the mistake by Avila, scoring his first goal on the 2014 season and giving the Owls a 1-0 advantage.
Avila, however, responded at the 51:54 mark, as Louis Gallagher, who scored the lone goal last year for Avila in its 1-0 win at WWU, struck again, which tied the game up at 1-1.
Then, at the 71:44 mark, two Avila players received red cards, putting the Eagles down two players the rest of the game. The Owls would go on to record four more shots, including one by
Alex Severino that was saved by Eagle goaltender Jesus Revilla at the 87:37 mark, but the game remained tied and it was off to overtime.
Despite having the shot advantage in both overtimes' (5-2) and more corner kicks (3-0), the Owls were unable to score the game winner and the game ended in a 1-1 tie.
WWU outshot Avila 20-5 in the outing and were led by
Julian Wells and
Sebastian Burich each totaling four shots. Severino contributed three shots, while
Jacob Hawes,
Paulo Conelian and
Matheus Schmid added two.
On the season, Hawes leads the team in numerous categories that include, goals (three), points (seven), shots (seven) and shots on goal (five). Conelian and
Luca Stroeter, meanwhile, are tied for the team lead in assists, having two.
This will be the 13
th meeting since 1997 between the Owls and Wildcats, with the Owls having the advantage with a 7-4-1 record.
Last year at Firley Field, the Owls defeated Culver-Stockton 4-1, while also outshooting CSC 32-11 in the game. The Owls got goals from Conelian and Burich in the first half, while
Marcelo Carreiro and JP Parra put the game away for WWU in the second half, with goals of their own.
After going 3-14-1 in 2013, the Wildcats are off to a better start in 2014, as they won its season opener by the score of 4-1 over Westminster College on Friday August 29
th.
Kevin Urbeck didn't waste any time getting on the board, as he scored at the 1:17 minute mark, to give CSC the 1-0 lead. Then, three minutes later, Ben Lehmkuhl scored what turned out to be the game winner at the 4:42 mark, putting the Wildcats up 2-0.
Urbeck went on to add his second of the game at the 20:25 minute mark and Thomas Cooper tallied the fourth and final goal in the 72
nd minute, to give CSC the three goal victory.
"We dominated last years' game with a 4-1 win," said head coach
Nathan Mason. "However, last time we played there in Canton, we struggled to find a rhythm.
They are a solid team at their home field, as they seem to be more confident and disciplined there."
He added, "I think it will be a tight game Tuesday and I will look for our bench and depth to win it for us. I know we have some key subs off the bench that are very good players, so I am confident that this will benefit the team in the long-term, especially as we get ready for the American Midwest Conference teams'."
Fans make sure to stay updated on wwuowls.com tomorrow night for a full recap and score from Canton, Mo.
