Releaes courtesy of the SVSU Sports Information Department
UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. - The Saginaw Valley State University men's soccer team advanced to the round of 16 in the NCAA DII Men's Soccer Championships for the first time in school history after defeating Quincy University today (Nov. 11) in a shootout. The Cardinals claimed the victory 6-5 in penalty kicks after game play ended in a 1-1 tie after regulation.
Quicny opened the scoring in the 25th minute after a shot attempt was played into the box from the right side and hit in off the rebound.
Saginaw Valley's best scoring chance of the half happened in the 35th minute when defender Michael Lamb (Sunderland, England / Sandhill View School) let loose a shot that caught the keeper off guard before he was able to gather the ball for the save.
The Cardinals had another excellent scoring opportunity in the 57th minute when a Lachlan Savage (Canton, Mich. / Plymouth Salem HS) shot just grazed the outside of the right post.
The Cardinals finally kicked home the equalizer in the 86th minute on a header by Zach Walega (Saline, Mich. / Saline HS) off of a corner kick by Zack Minor (Hartland, Mich. / Hartland HS) as SVSU sent the contest into overtime.
Saginaw Valley came out aggressive in the overtime periods, outshooting the Hawks 6-2, but neither team was able to notch the winning goal, forcing the game into a shootout.
In the first round of the shootout, Savage got the Cardinals off to a good start as he found the back of the net. Quincy responded by evening the score at 1-1.
Both squads were unsuccessful in round two before Mitch Reinhart (Canton, Mich. / Plymouth Canton HS) converted in the third for the Cardinals as SVSU claimed a 2-1 advantage with a Quincy miss.
The Cardinals missed their fourth attempt, while Quincy converted, to tie the score at 2-2 before Zack Cooney (Livonia, Mich. / Stevenson HS) beat the Quincy keeper in the fifth round. The Hawks went on to convert their fifth attempt and force the contest into sudden death.
After neither team converted on the sixth attempt, both teams found the back of the net on attempts in rounds seven and eight.
In the ninth round, Conor Reaume (Troy, Mich. / Troy HS) blasted the ball by the Hawks keeper before Jason Wise (Troy, Mich.) finished off the game as he stonewalled the Hawk on their ninth attempt.
The save by Wise sends the No. 12 ranked Cardinals to the round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament
Saginaw Valley, the No. 2 seed in the Super Regional, will now travel to Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Okla. to play top-seeded Rockhurst University in a rematch of last year's first round contest.
The third round match will either be played on November 15 or 16. Stay tuned for more information.