PORTSMOUTH, Ohio (Men's Soccer) – For 81 minutes, the Shawnee State men's soccer program gave No. 11-ranked Lindsey Wilson all it wanted as the Bears and Blue Raiders played to a deadlock.
Unfortunately for Shawnee State, it was not to be as Lindsey Wilson's Aleksi Pahkasalo found an opening on the near side of the field at the 81:07 mark and blasted a shot to the opposite post to give the Blue Raiders a 1-0 victory over the Bears at the Shawnee Turf on Saturday evening.
Over the duration of the contest, Shawnee State (5-9, 2-3 Mid-South) was outshot by Lindsey Wilson (12-3-1, 5-1 Mid-South) as the Blue Raiders obtained a 20-6 edge in overall shot attempts.
However, the strong effort of the Bears' backline, led by seniors Ben Pulsford (SR/Slough, England) and Dylan Stevens (SR/Canal Winchester, Ohio) as well as underclassmen Cody Hartong (SO/Creston, Ohio) and Aaron Mazurkiewicz (FR/Vincent, Ohio) kept both squads at a gridlock for the entirety of the first half.
In fact, during the first 27 minutes of the contest, both teams tied with each other on shot attempts as Shawnee State and Lindsey Wilson posted three shots apiece during the span before the Blue Raiders began to open up their offensive attack.
When Lindsey Wilson attempted to do so, however, the Blue Raiders were met by an inspiring performance by freshman Corey Huneke (FR/Cincinnati, Ohio), who made his first career start in the goal on Saturday.
Playing in place of the injured Brandon Pfeiffer (SO/Canal Winchester, Ohio) – who made nine saves without allowing a goal in his first start ever in last year's contest against Lindsey Wilson – Huneke put on another stellar display in goal for the Bears as the Cincinnati, Ohio native began his first career start by saving three consecutive Blue Raider shots within three minutes of each other to keep the game scoreless.
From there, Lindsey Wilson was only able to obtain one shot – a Billal Qsiyer attempt that went wide of the goal – as the Bears and the Blue Raiders went into the halftime break at a scoreless tie.
In the second half of play, Shawnee State would find itself with a couple of chances to paint the scoreboard first.
Chris Wiget (SR/Piketon, Ohio) would nearly break through in the 53rd minute of play as the senior found space with a chance to operate, but pushed the shot wide to the opposite side of the net by two feet.
Just a dozen minutes later, Dylan Stevens would obtain a free kick opportunity from 25 yards out after the Blue Raiders were called for a handball on their own end. However, Stevens' rocket of a shot would land right in the chest of Yuta Nomura as the game remained at a 0-0 tie.
Shortly thereafter, Lindsey Wilson would begin to find openings in the Shawnee State defense with less than 25 minutes left to go in the contest, but Huneke stood tall for his team on each and every opportunity.
Over the following 10:40, the freshman would make three critical saves, including two gigantic stops on Pahkasalo on two separate free kick. The rash of saves included a highlight-reel play in the 77th minute, as on a Pahkasalo free kick, Huneke dove to his left and batted the ball all the way to the corner to keep the game at a tie.
The leading goal and point scorer in the Mid-South Conference, however, wasn't going to be denied again. With 8:53 remaining in the contest, the junior took a pass from Serge Gomis and from the near side of the playing surface, launched a shot past Huneke's diving attempt to give the Blue Raiders a 1-0 advantage that they would not lose.
For the next nine minutes, the Bears would keep the Blue Raiders from netting another goal to keep the game within reach. However, Shawnee State could not find the offensive rhythm necessary to mount a charge as the final 8:53 came and went without another shot for the Bears.
Shawnee State's gargantuan efforts on defense were led by Huneke, who recorded seven saves for the Bears to net a .875 save percentage. Stevens and Nick Dowdell (SR/New London, Ohio) would be the lone Shawnee State offensive players to put shots on goal in the contest.
The Bears will host another ranked opponent in Mid-South Conference play as Shawnee State will play host to the ninth-ranked team in the NAIA, Cumberland (Tenn.). The contest, which will be play on Saturday, Oct. 24, is set for a 2 p.m. start.
