The Valparaiso men’s soccer
team closed its three-game road trip on a high note Tuesday afternoon in Bowling Green, Ohio,
defeating Bowling Green
by a 2-0 score.
“This was a very good result for us today, especially coming
off a disappointing loss on Sunday night,” said Crusader head coach Mike Avery. “Our guys handled some adversity well in the
early stages of the game today and, over time, took control and eventually put
the game away in our favor.”
The two squads played to a scoreless first half, but it
would not take the Crusaders long to change that, as in the 53rd minute, Valpo took advantage of a prime scoring chance. Rodolfo
Lucas (Mogi Mirim, Brazil/ [Coffeyville C.C.]) lined up a corner
kick and sent it to the far post, where 6’6” Stefan Antonijevic (Buffalo Grove, Ill./Stevenson [College of Lake County/Marquette] got
above the crowd and headed the ball into the back of the net for his second
goal of the season.
Valpo got an opportunity to add a key insurance tally in the
79th minute when a Bowling
Green defender was whistled for a foul inside the box,
setting up a penalty kick for the Crusaders.
Zack Stivers (Brownsburg, Ind./Brownsburg)
stepped up and calmly drilled the ball past BGSU netminder Jeff Smoker for his
team-leading fifth goal of the season.
Valparaiso out-shot Bowling Green (1-8-2) by
a 19-11 margin for the match and placed six shots on net to the Falcons’
five. Ryan Schwarz (Rockford,
Ill./Boylan Catholic) stopped all
five shots BGSU placed on frame for his third shutout of the season, including
two terrific saves late to preserve the clean sheet, while Smoker made four
saves in net for the Falcons.
“We got to play a lot of guys today, which gave us a lift
seeing some guys come off the bench with fresh legs and play as hard as they
did,” said Avery. “Now we start to
prepare for Butler
on Sunday as we enter the heart of league play.”
Valparaiso (5-5-1) returns home for a key Horizon League
showdown with in-state rival Butler
on Sunday afternoon. Kickoff from Brown
Field is slated for 12:30 p.m., and all the action can be heard live on WVUR,
95.1 FM, Valparaiso
and online at www.valpoathletics.com,
which will also have a link for live statistics.