ST. JOSEPH'S, Ind. – The Saginaw Valley State University men's soccer team picked up their second win of the season today (Sept. 4) defeating St. Joseph's 3-1 in a game that was originally scheduled to be played on Saturday (Sept. 3), but was postponed due to inclement weather.
The Cardinals had nine shots in the first half, while the Pumas had seven, but neither team was able to capitalize as the entered the second half of play with no score. Saginaw Valley was first to light up the scoreboard when freshman Tyler Channell (Troy, Mich.) scored off a shot that was redirected by a St. Joseph's player. The Pumas scored just two minutes later knotting the score at one-one. Saginaw Valley took control of the game going up 2-1 when Zach Walega (Saline, Mich.) scored his second consecutive game winner when he found the back of the net off a pass from sophomore Zack Minor (Hartland, Mich.).
The Cardinals scored the final goal of the contest late in the second half of play when junior Robert Short (Goodrich, Mich.) beat the keeper on the left side off a pass from Morley Burns (Rochester, Mich. / Adams HS). Saginaw Valley had 18 shots in the game, 11 of which were on goal, while junior goaltender Jason Wise (Troy, Mich.) allowed one goal on eight shots and is now 2-0 on the season.
Head coach Cale Wassermann stated, ""It always feels good to come home from a road trip with two wins. We had to battle through some tough situations this week as we have some injuries, got an undeserved red card on Thursday, and we were dealing with our game getting postponed and staying another night on the road for this game. The team responded well and a lot of guys stepped up this weekend to get the results we were looking for. We have a lot to work on and a tough road ahead but we take a lot of positives from this weekend moving forward. I am happy for the team and its always good to see a player like Walega get rewarded for his hard work with two great game winners on the weekend. Hopefully we can take this energy into a good week of training looking forward to some tough games next weekend".
With the win the Cardinals improve to 2-0 on the season, while St. Joseph's falls to 0-1 on the season. Saginaw Valley will be back in action on Friday (Sept. 9) when they travel to Marygrove College. Game time is scheduled for 2:00 PM.