ST. PAUL, Minn. - The University of Northwestern Men's Soccer Team faced the University of Minnesota - Morris in a humid match on Wednesday evening. After a scoreless first half, UNW scored quickly in the second half, maintaining the lead for six minutes before conceding three unanswered goals to fall 1-3.
UNW tallied one shot attempt in the first half off the foot of
Max Plaza (New Brighton, Minn./St. Anthony Village). After subbing in moments prior, Plaza fired a shot from the top of the box, finding space to challenge the Morris goalie. On the other end of the field,
Isaac Johnson (Shoreview, Minn./Mounds View) stayed busy in goal for UNW and collected six saves in the first 45 minutes.
The message from
Greg Wheaton at halftime sparked the Eagles early on as
Elijah Johnson (Rochester, Minn./John Marshall) came off the bench after the break and put UNW on the board just 80 seconds into the second half.
Levi Harmes (Richfield, Minn./Homeschool) intercepted a pass from the Morris keeper deep in the half and crossed the ball to Johnson, who snuck it past the goalie's hip. Five minutes later, Northwestern nearly doubled its score when
Braeden Morrow (Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville North) sent a free kick into the box that fell just inches out of Johnson's reach. UMM equalized in the 54th minute before taking the lead in the 69th minute. The Cougars added another goal off a penalty kick in the 87th minute to take all three points back to Morris.
Elijah Johnson (Rochester, Minn./John Marshall) scored the lone goal, while he and Plaza tallied the only two shots on target.
Isaac Johnson (Shoreview, Minn./Mounds View) played all 90 minutes between the pipes for UNW and finished with eight saves.
Northwestern will kick off at 4:30 on Saturday, October 3, against Crown College at Reynolds Field.
