Box Score (River Forest, IL) - Dominican University stayed unbeaten in the Northern Athletics Conference on Saturday afternoon as they defeated Marian University 3-0. The Stars used a 23-3 advantage in shots to pull out the victory and move to 4-1-1 on the year and 2-0 in the NAC. Meanwhile, Marian fell to 3-4 and 0-2 in the NAC.
The Sabres defense played well in the first half and Marian had a great opportunity to score early, but was unable to convert. The teams went into halftime deadlocked at 0-0.
In the second, the Star offense came to life as they found the back of the net three times. Michael Kapusta scored on a penalty kick at the 49:41 mark to break the scoreless tie. Eleven minutes later, Ryan Roberts scored an insurance goal to make it 2-0. Nick Kulas scored with ten minutes remaining to close out the scoring.
Marian is back in action again on Tuesday, as they will host non-conference foe, Saint Mary's University.
Coach Peltonen's Quotes
“ You can never be pleased with a loss no matter who you're playing against. Whether it's the \#15 ranked team in the nation or the last place team in your conference. What you can be pleased with is some of the things your team did during the game. This is the second game in a row that we have come out and competed with our hearts and bodies to stay in the game. We need to continue to battle and hustle like we have in the last two games (vs UW-Oshkosh and Dominican) and if we do, we're going to give ourselves the chance to win every game we play the rest of the season."
“There is no doubt Dominican had more of the possession against us. In the first half though, we should have been up 1-0 at halftime instead of 0-0. Dominican may have had a couple half chances, but we had the best true opportunity to score. After a good sequence of passes, Kevin Mawhinney gave a great 1 touch flick pass on the top of the 18 yard box that wet over the defenders head and into the path of one of the Sabre's forwards. The ball was perfectly set up for our forward to find the far post from 8 yards out, but instead our forward skied the volley over the goal.”
“I made the mistake at halftime of not reminding our players that Dominican would come out pressuring the ball and very energetic in the 2nd half. They did and we didn't deal with the pressure very well, giving up a penalty kick four minutes into the 2nd half. We gave up another one when one of our defenders had a poor touch and their players picked up the ball and was alone on our keeper. Their third one came late in the half. We didn't create very many opportunities as far as good scoring chances go in the 2nd half, but our ability to change the point of attack and keep more of the ball improved.”
Game balls go out to: junior midfielder Kevin Mawhinney for his play in midfield. He won balls in the air, kept the ball for us, and got into the attack and recovered defensively conscientiously. Junior midfielder Jim Chavez for his consistent defending in the center of midfield and his ability to maintain possession. The final game ball goes to freshman Everett Zank for his tireless work and energy off the bench as a wide midfielder.
