UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. - The Saginaw Valley State University men's soccer team won their home opener today (Sept. 10) when they defeated Indiana Tech. , 4-3 in double overtime.
The Cardinals came out strong early in the game going up 2-0. The first goal came at the 10:05 mark when freshman Noah Sawyer (East Lansing, Mich. / Haslett HS) found the foot of senior Anthony Palazzolo (Warren, Mich. / De La Salle HS). Just a little over two minutes later Zach Myers (Grand Rapids, Mich. / Forrest Hills Eastern HS) passed the ball to Zach Walega (Saline, Mich.) who found the back of the net for his first college career goal. Indiana Tech scored one goal at the 28:09 mark to make the game 2-1 heading into halftime.
Indiana Tech came back from the half with two goals to give them a 3-2 advantage until the 84:52 mark of the contest when Myers would score for the Cardinals to tie the game and send it into overtime. The first overtime kept the score deadlocked at three for each team. Junior Andrew Burgeson (Shelby Township, Mich. / Utica Einsenshower HS) passed the ball up to Sawyer who put the ball in the net in double overtime to give Saginaw Valley the 4-3 win.
Senior goaltender Piotr Kazmierczak (Stargard, Poland) had four saves on the day and recorded the win for the Cardinals giving him a 2-2 overall record.
With the win Saginaw Valley improves to 2-2 overall on the season, while Indiana Tech falls to 4-2 overall on the season. The Cardinals will be back in action on Sunday (Sept. 12) when they face Ohio Dominican at home. Game time is scheduled for 2:30 pm.