ST. PAUL, Minn. – The old sports adage says that three wins in a row are needed for a team to be considered on a winning streak. In that case, welcome the University of Northwestern Men's Soccer team to the club. Coming off back-to-back 2-0 wins over North Central and Martin Luther, the Eagles finally let in a goal on Saturday, but were able to provide some extra offense to win 4-1 in front of a great Homecoming crowd at Reynolds Field.
Coming off one of his best career games at Martin Luther,
Aaron Hill (New Brighton, Minn./Mounds View) stayed hot against the Cougars. The senior re-directed a
Simeon Friesen (Mounds View, Minn./Homeschool) corner kick into the net to give UNW a 1-0 advantage in the 28
th minute, which would turn out to be the only goal of the first half, in which Northwestern out-shot Morris 10-2 and 7-1 on goal.
The action picked up in the second half, and happened in a flurry. In the 53
rd minute, Friesen launched a pass up ahead to
Teddy Hall (Mendota Heights, Minn./Homeschool), who found the back of the net for his first goal in 2024. Friesen wasn't done distributing either, as he found
Tim DeLoye (Wausau, Wis./Wausau West) just two minutes later for his third assist of the night, putting the Eagles ahead, 3-0. The momentum continued for UNW, as Hill confidently drilled home a shot in the 58
th minute, assisted by
Gonzalo Luna Belmonte (Riverbank, Calif./Riverbank). If you thought you could take a breath after all that, think again! The Cougars scored their first and only goal of the match just 39 seconds later to make the score 4-1, which would end up being the final.
Friesen and Hill were on another level in the exciting win. Friesen finished with six shots and five shots on goal to go along with his three assists, while Hill scored twice on three shots. Luna Belmonte also shot three times and twice on goal, dishing out the assist to Hill in the process. DeLoye's only shot of the game produced his first goal of the captain's senior season. Machuca and
Jonathan Orlowski (Waunakee, Wis./Waunakee) each made a save in net for the Eagles.
Northwestern will look to stay hot Tuesday night when it travels to Northland College for another conference slate. Kickoff in Ashland is set for 4:30 PM.
