Box Score

The Malone University men's soccer team tallied three first-half goals en route to a 4-2 home triumph over rival Walsh University on Tuesday afternoon.

With the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory, the Pioneers avenged a 1-0 loss to the Cavaliers earlier this season and improved their record to 3-9-1 overall and 2-8-1 in the GLIAC.  Walsh, meanwhile, slipped to 5-8 overall and 5-6 in conference play with the defeat.

Malone set the tone early on, grabbing a 1-0 lead in the fifth minute when senior Josh Abend received a pass from senior Felipe Delgado and then fired a cross in front of the goal.  Sophomore Sam Tonelli collected the ball and fired his second score of the season into an empty net.

This early Pioneer goal would stand as the only tally of the match until late in the first half as Malone found the back of the net twice more to take a commanding 3-0 lead into intermission.  Abend registered his second assist of the afternoon in the 39th minute, lofting a corner kick that senior Rubem Miranda deposited into the goal with a strong header.

Senior Stephen Wannah then pushed the hosts' advantage to 3-0 just over two minutes later after securing a pass from Miranda and firing a shot from 25 yards out that deflected in off the bottom of the crossbar.

The teams then traded attacks back and forth over the final 45 minutes, combing for 25 shots in a furious second half.  Pat Julian got the Cavaliers on the scoreboard in the 61st minute, gathering the rebound off a shot from Chad Dickerhoof and firing it home.

Senior Kelvin Aquino restored Malone's three-goal cushion less than two minutes later, drilling a penalty kick past Walsh keeper Justin Nolan following a foul in the box.

Dickerhoof closed the gap to 4-2 in the 67th minute after snagging a loose ball in front of the Malone net.  However, that was as close as the Cavs would get.

Each team totaled 21 shots in the match and both squads had several near misses that could have pushed the goal total even higher.   A breakaway by Walsh's Chris Lynch was turned away late in the first half on a nice diving save by Malone keeper Felipe Monteiro.  Back-to-back Walsh shots would then hit the post and crossbar in the 83rd minute.  Two minutes later, a long shot from Abend curled around the Cavalier defense before deflecting off the post.

Malone held a slim 12-10 advantage in shots on goal while Walsh enjoyed a 7-3 edge in corners.

Monteiro and Nolan each ended the afternoon with eight saves.

The Pioneers, now with seven points in the GLIAC standings, will look to keep their postseason hopes alive on Friday when they travel to Tiffin University for a 3:00 p.m. match against the Dragons.  Earlier this season, Tiffin escaped Pioneer Field with a 2-1 overtime win.  Live statistics will be available during the contest at http://dragonweb.tiffin.edu/livestats/xlive.htm