PORTSMOUTH, Ohio (Men's Soccer) – The Shawnee State men's soccer team continued its offensive barrage on Sunday afternoon by adding two more goals in the opening half – a 15th minute strike by Caspar Nolte (FR/Germantown, Ohio) and a 33rd minute blast by Joe Lamont (JR/Edinburgh, Scotland) – and thwarted a Saint Xavier rally in the second half to take a 2-1 victory in a nonconference bout against Saint Xavier for its third straight victory – all on the Shawnee Turf – on Sunday afternoon.
"I thought that we put together another great first half," Goodson said. "Possession was good and both goals were created by quality possessions. In the second half, we battled and showed a lot of character to finish the match with the win. This game is similar to games in which we have let our opponents come back and grab a victory over the last few seasons, but our club did a great job today of continuing to fight throughout the match."
During the first 15 minutes of the contest, the Bears had to do plenty of fighting as the on-goal action by both offenses were put to a halt, with neither team advancing far past midfield due to the rugged physical play by both ballclubs. As they did on Saturday, however, Shawnee State would get its offensive attack going in a hurry.
As the Bears drove down the field, Matyas Krivan (FR/South Point, Ohio) was able to find room on the left side of the pitch and shoot a pass off to a streaking Caspar Nolte on the right, who finished off Krivan's pass with a strike past a diving Frank Valle on the left side of the pitch to give Shawnee State a 1-0 lead early on in the going.
For the remainder of the first half, the Bears played in a way that was akin to Saturday's barrage, as Shawnee State dominated not only the time of possession, but shots taken, as well. Overall, the Bears would outshoot the Cougars by a 10-2 tally in the first half of play.
The aforementioned shot and time of possession advantage would lead to another goal by Shawnee State in the 32nd minute. With Matt Williams (FR/West Salem, Ohio) advancing deep into Saint Xavier territory once again, the freshman put up a shot from the left side, which was directed out toward the center of the field. However, the ball landed right in the wheelhouse of a waiting Joe Lamont, who launched a bullet of a shot at – and off of – the hands of Valle from the edge of the penalty box to increase the Bears' lead to a 2-0 advantage and cap off the scoring for the first half.
In the second stanza, the Cougars' offensive attack would come to life, as better spacing from Saint Xavier allowed the Cougars to gain a 6-3 edge in shots over the second half of play. The improved spacing shown from Saint Xavier in the second frame allowed Roger Ciszewski to take a dime from Marco Gutierrez on the right side of the field and put a shot in on the lower left corner of the net to cut the Shawnee State lead in half.
However, all other advances made by the Cougar offense were rendered unsuccessful, as the strong backline of Ben Pulsford (SR/Slough, England), Dylan Stevens (SR/Canal Winchester, Ohio), and Aaron Mazurkiewicz (FR/Vincent, Ohio) made life miserable for the Saint Xavier forward trio of Gutierrez, Ciszewski, and Orlando Tapia, as the Shawnee State trio used airtight ball pressure to force the Cougars into tough crosses and shots.
When a shot did get by the Bears' backline, Brandon Pfeiffer (SO/Canal Winchester, Ohio) was there to make the necessary saves, with the sophomore making three on the day. The Canal Winchester native made an excellent kick to clear the ball out of the Shawnee State side of the field with less than 25 seconds remaining to put a dagger in any hopes of a completed comeback attempt by Saint Xavier as the Bears walked away with the 2-1 victory.
Leading the way for Shawnee State offensively was Nolte, who put both of his shots on goal and recorded a goal in the process. Lamont's goal came in his only recorded shot on the net, while Krivan's assist to Nolte was the lone dime of the match for the Bears.
With the win, Shawnee State also moves above .500 (3-2) on the season, with the two losses – including one to No. 21 ranked SCAD Savannah – coming in Shawnee State's first pair of contests at Milligan College in Tennessee. The win also marks the second victory in two days – as well as in two tries – against the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC).
After a day of rest, Shawnee State will be back on the pitch for the third time in four days as the Bears will look for its fourth straight win of the season against Asbury. The contest will be held at 4 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon at the Shawnee Turf.
