EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- The #22 SVSU Men's Soccer Team pulled-out a 4-3 overtime victory over Ashland University on Thursday (Nov. 8) night in the opening round of the 2018 NCAA Division II Tournament. The Cardinals got a goal from Alex Gloshen just 38 seconds into the first overtime session to seal the victory and keep SV alive in the national tournament.
Saginaw Valley got going with a hot start in the match, scoring just 7:12 into the contest when Michael Hamilton deflected one past the Ashland goalkeeper for the 1-0 lead. Alex Gloshen was credited with the assist on the play.
The Eagles knotted the contest up at 1-1 at the 19' marker when Justin Libertowski scored from in front of net.
Hamilton got on the board again at the 25' mark, striking a goal from the right side off a nice pass from Pablo Ortiz to make the score 2-1. Hamilton would then return the favor for Gloshen, teaming-up with Alberto Teatin for a nice assist to set Gloshen up for the team's third goal of the match. That pushed the score out to 3-1 at the 29' point.
Ashland refused to go away, however, getting a goal at the 39' marker when Kieran Paterson connected and cut the SVSU lead to 3-2 heading to the halftime break.
The Cards owned a 10-6 overall edge in shots and 3-0 lead in corners over the initial 45 minutes of action.
The 3-2 lead for Saginaw Valley held true until all the way at the 83' point, when Ashland played a long ball downfield and Libertowski took it after a deflection off a Cardinal defender and snuck one in net to knot the score at 3-3.
Both teams held in from there, sending the contest to overtime in the third meeting of the season between the programs.
It didn't take long in the first overtime session for some more offensive action, which was typical for this contest. Just 38 seconds in, Gloshen found a loose ball in front of the Ashland net on a rebound off a cleared ball and punched it past the keeper, sending the Cardinals to a 4-3 victory and spot in Saturday's second round.
Inside the Boxscore
- Gloshen had two goals and an assist in the contest, bringing his season total of goals to four while he remains in the lead with his eight assists. The game-winner was his first of the season and second of his career. He had four shots overall, putting all four on goal.
- Hamilton's two scores ties him with Azaad Liadi for the team lead at eight while he now has three assists as well for a team-best 19 points. He had four shots in the match, putting two on goal with the scores.
- Teatin registered his first point of the season with the assist.
- Lukas Betz (9-2-5) made four saves in goal to claim the victory.
- The Cardinals had a 16-12 shots advantage and 4-2 edge in corner kicks.
- Thursday's victory over Ashland is the first NCAA postseason win for the Cardinals since the 2015 campaign.
From Head Coach Andy Wagstaff...
"At this stage of the season as we begin the NCAA playoffs we simply made it our objective to survive and advance, no matter how ugly the game might be. Playing against Ashland for a third time and facing their style of play was always going to be a matter of trying to take away their strengths and exploit their weaknesses. They don't have many holes as a team but I felt that in the first half we played some fantastic soccer and should have had a more comfortable lead. Unfortunately, we let them back in the match at 3-2 just before halftime and that allowed them to regroup and come at us in the second half. In the second half it was simply an aerial bombardment which is hard to deal with. I felt we adjusted the best way that we could but they managed to claw back with an equalizer with a few minutes left to take the game to overtime. In overtime we tried to recover from the frustration of conceding a late goal and managed to score early, which is a testament to the character of this team. We will enjoy this moment for tonight and go back to business tomorrow in preparation for USI."
Game-winning goal...
Up Next...
The Cardinals advance the the second round of the tournament and will face No. 2 Midwest Regional and host University of Southern Indiana. That match will take place Saturday (Nov. 10) at 2:00 p.m. eastern time. Follow all of the action live at www.svsucardinals.com.
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