Box Score (Appleton, WI) - The Sabres accomplished something they haven't done since 1998 on Tuesday evening...win a season opener. Marian opened the season with a 2-0 victory at Lawrence University to avenge a three-game losing streak against the Vikings.
Marian out-shot the Vikings 16-11 and Peter Xiong (Fond du Lac, WI) put the Sabres on the board in the 12th minute with a score off a direct kick. That's where the game stayed heading into halftime as both teams defenses clamped down.
The second half remained scorless throughout, until Marian's Jose Hernandez (Sheboygan, WI) scored on a putback as it was misplayed by the goalkeeper.
Marian goalkeeper, Nick Henkemeyer (Prior Lake, MN) recorded his third career shutout. Henkemeyer stopped four Viking shots.
Marian is back in action again on Saturday, as they will play at Northland College.
Coach Peltonen's comments:
"In past season's I've got caught up in how we play. Can we play good soccer and look somewhat stylish? My theme this year is lets win games. It doesn't always have to look pretty and that sums up our game today versus Lawrence. We won 2-0 and I'm happy about it, as our players are as well. It's been a while since we started out a season with a win. We'd didn't look all that good with possession play, but we fought hard, won balls, cleared the ball, and did what was necessary to win the game and that is a real positive step. Lawrence's movement off the ball created problems for us for good parts of the game, but the team banded together and did what was necessary to defend it. Not always pretty, but effective."
"Our first goal came at the 15-minute mark or so of the first half on a great free kick that went directly in off the foot of senior free-kick specialist, Peter Xiong. It was a bullet of a shot that the keeper didn't have a chance at. Sophomore Milan Stupar had the first chance of the game as he got behind the Lawrence defenders and struck the ball well at the corner, but their keeper made a very nice save at the 10 minute mark. We had a few chances in the 2nd half as Lawrence pushed forward, but we weren't able to put one in until the last seconds of the game when sophomore Dustin Hendrikse served a quick free kick toward goal that caught the keeper off-guard."
"Our freshman defender Tito Vera had a very solid game, as did junior midfielders Jim Chavez and Kenny Pieper. Senior captain Nick Henkemeyer earned the shutout in the goal."
