MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.- The University of Northwestern Men's Soccer team opened up conference play on Saturday after three nonconference games to open their season. The Eagles traveled to downtown Minneapolis to take on North Central, and fell to the Rams 1-0 in the conference opener.
The first conference match of the season marked a defensive struggle from start to finish. Each team was solid on the back line and goals were extremely hard to come by. The first 45 minutes of play passed without either team finding the back of the net and it was a scoreless tie at the halftime break. Despite not being able to get a ball past the North Central goalkeeper, the Eagles got the majority of the scoring chances in the first half, outshooting the Rams 7-3 in the opening frame.
In the second half, it was more of the same. Once again, the Eagles outshot the Rams, 6-4 this time, but were still unable to find that opening goal. The game remained scoreless until about halfway through the second half when the host Rams were finally able to deliver the opening blow. The Rams scored the only goal of the contest in the 64
th minute and won the UMAC opener 1-0.
Despite the loss, the Eagles played a good game statistically. UNW outshot NCU 13-7 in the match and had 10 shots on goal to the Rams' 6.
Andrew Skoglund (Northfield, Minn./Skoglund Academy) played a good game in net for the Eagles making 5 saves and only surrendering the one goal.
Curtis Tinjum (Wausau, Wisc./Wausau West),
Mitchell Pfeifer (Blaine, Minn./Avail Academy), and
Jonathan-Thomas Olsen (Modesto, Calif./James Enochs High) led the Eagles with two shots apiece in the game.
The Eagles will continue conference play as they return home to square off with Crown College on Thursday, September 22
nd at 7:30 P.M.
