Men's Soccer Big Start Holds against Texas Lutheran Sunday
IRVING, Texas – On a soggy Sunday afternoon, the University of Dallas men's soccer team (5-4, 2-3 SCAC) staked an early 3-0 lead the first twenty minutes from kickoff. However, the contest was a lengthy physical battle as the Crusaders held off Texas Lutheran University (2-7, 2-3 SCAC) in a 4-2 final. After dropping matches including Friday's overtime setback with Southwestern, UD improved to 2-1 at the friendly confines.
Jake Schnell (Austin, Texas) snuck his first career collegiate goal in the early stages of the game by back-kicking a pass from Barton Holdridge (Fort Worth, Texas) that took a friendly carom for the home side off the left post. Schnell would strike again two scoring plays later with his second of the match in the 18th minute on a long hit that tipped off a leaping Bulldogs' goalkeeper Brendan Soto. Andrew Ciancone (Houston, Texas) dished a pass for the one-timer.
Prior to Schnell's goal that gave him a bid at a hat trick, Holdridge completed a goal at the 15:19 minute mark that was created by Tommy Byrd's (Mansfield, Texas) header that halted TLU's attempt at progressing down the field. Byrd's counter back was taking by Holdridge and completed from inside the box.
The guests did not go away with the next two goals of the game nipping the margin to 3-2. David Ching sent a hard, long free kick to the right side of UD's goal at the 28:43 mark to eliminate a shutout opportunity. That rounded out the first half scoring with Dallas up 3-1.
At the 59:55 minute, the Bulldogs pounded their second goal in a row off Patrick Duffy. The possession up to that point was favorable for the Black and Gold, with six of the 15 shots that stanza attempted during that juncture. Duffy's goal followed a few seconds after Agustin Cueva's attempt was blocked and a scramble for the loose ball favored TLU.
Dallas had only two shots during that stretch, but answered a point back on the scoreboard with Luke Schwarz (Tucson, Ariz.) nailing a penalty kick less than a minute later. Schwarz has been successful on three penalty kicks this campaign. That extra goal proved plenty of insurance, as the scoreboard never changed despite both team's taking a combined 14 shots the rest of the way.
INSIDE THE BOXSCORE
- Holdridge and Schwarz remained atop the team leaderboard with four goals apiece. The duo each contributed three shots and two shots on goal.
- Chima Ogueri (Garland, Texas) paced the squad with four shots and knocked three on frame. Hunter Haugland (Bixby, Okla.) was the other Crusader with a multi-shot performance.
- Dallas equaled its shot attempts per half with eight. 10 of its 16 shots were on goal.
- Tino Gamueda (Lubbock, Texas) made three saves in 90 minutes between the posts to improve to 5-4.
- Texas Lutheran attempted 22 shots with 15 in the second half. The guests won the corner kick battle 9-2, including eight in the last 45 minutes.
- Ching walloped a game-high nine shots with two on goal. Guillermo Guerra and Jordan Frazier had perfect shot on goal percentage with two attempts apiece.
- Soto (2-5) was saddled with the loss making a save against four shots in 45 minutes. Victor Rodriguez was a halftime goalie change and nabbed five saves against six faced in the last half.
- Teams combined for 28 fouls with UD narrowly having more 15-13.
QUOTABLE
"It was Great to pick up a conference win. Schnell is the man of the match for us with two goals and drew the PK. TLU competed to the end and this was a very challenging game." - Coach Hoffmann on Schnell's big day and team's win Sunday.
UP NEXT
Dallas continues a six-game home stand with two more conference opponents. The month concludes on September 30 with Austin College. That match will be at 5 p.m. after the women's tilt. October 2, the Crusaders play their final SCAC opponent through the first half of the schedule with Centenary College at 12 p.m.