Friday, August 29, 2003

Jamal Sutton scored twice for Southwest Missouri State on Friday evening as the visiting Bears spoiled Valparaiso's season opener, defeating the Crusaders 3-1 at Eastgate Field.

The Crusaders found the scoreboard first as freshman Sean Marshall (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest H.S.) fed Mark Korba (Portage, Ind./Portage H.S.) through the box and the junior beat Matt Pickens at the 16:22 mark.

Southwest Missouri State tied the match at the 33:40 mark when Sutton tallied his first of the match on a blast from the top of the penalty area.

Doug Lascody gave the Bears the lead with 1:11 left in the half on a penalty kick after the Crusaders were called for a hand ball in the penalty area.

Sutton then added an insurance goal at 68:26 after receiving a pass from Joern Meyn off of a Valpo turnover and scored from 15 yards out.

SMS (1-0) outshot Valpo 21-17 for the match and held a 7-5 advantage on corner kicks. Jeff Oleck (Indianapolis, Ind./Cathedral H.S.) made five saves between the pipes for the Brown and Gold, including four in the first half, while Pickens made six stops for the Bears.

Valparaiso (0-1) will have a week off before returning to action next Friday evening when the Crusaders travel to Evansville for a 4:30 p.m. contest with the Purple Aces.