The University of Indianapolis men’s soccer fell 1-0 in a double overtime battle against Lewis University in their last home game of the season on Oct. 26.
Despite the Greyhounds outshooting the Flyers 21-7 and having five shots on goal, the team could not find the back of the goal.
In the final 30 seconds of the second overtime, Lewis scored the first and final goal of the game.
Two days before, the Greyhounds battled into another double overtime game against University of Wisconsin -Parkside, resulting in a 0-0 tie.
UIndy outshot the Rangers 26-8, with junior back Daniel Wellman leading the team with seven shots for the night.
The Greyhounds huddle up during their match with the University of Missouri-St. Louis Tritons on Friday Oct. 17. Photos by Ben Zefeng Zhang
The Greyhounds earned wins at home on Oct. 19 against the Maryville University Saints, by a score of 6-2, and on Oct. 17 against the University of Missouri-St. Louis Tritons by a score of 3-0.
UIndy struck early against Maryville, after senior forward Ngwese Ebangwese scored in the 7th minute of the first half. Maryville tied the match with a goal of its own in the 17th minute, but the 1-1 score did not stand for long. Two minutes later, senior midfielder Casey Castle scored on a rebound from Ebangwese’s shot, putting UIndy ahead 2-1.
The Greyhounds continued to dominate in the first half, putting up three more goals to make the score 5-1 at the half. Two of the five goals in the first half came from Wellman off of corner kicks by freshmen midfielder Josh Ling. The duo scored twice, in the 27th minute and the 43rd.
Sophomore forward Jacob Meyer also scored in the first half for the Greyhounds, with his then team-high sixth goal of the season. Meyer’s goal came from a pass by Wellman at the 42:27 mark.
UIndy continued to stay strong throughout the second half of the match, as Ebangwese added another goal to the scoreboard during the 57th minute, giving the senior five goals on the season at the time.
The Greyhounds’ win over Missouri-St. Louis came on a special night for the team, which took the field at the beginning of the match with Braden Tamosaitis, who has been a member of the team throughout the season as a TeamIMPACT student-athlete. Braden started for the Greyhounds and donned the No. 10 jersey for the Crimson and Grey.
“Braden [being a part of the team] is absolutely special, one of the most special things that I have seen out there [on the field], and I have been at UIndy for 10 years now,” Head Coach John Higgin said.
The first half of the match remained tied until intermission, as both teams failed to find the back of the net.
“For whatever reason, we were unbelievably flat in the first half, and I was worried at halftime going in [to the locker room] because we hadn’t played well at all. But to be fair to the guys, they came out in the second half and did a really nice job,” Higgins said.
Freshman midfielder David Kurz, who scored the first goal of the match, led the second half resurgence. Kurz got his first goal of the season from a midfield pass by junior forward Patrick O’Brien at the 47:28 mark. O’Brien contributed more assists and helped Meyer score the next goal in the 54th minute with another pass from midfield. The Greyhounds’ final goal came in the last two minutes of the match, when junior forward Zak Mitiche passed the ball to Wellman, and Wellman took a shot that passed between a defender’s legs, ending the match with a 3-0 final score. Verhonik once again took the win in goal for the Greyhounds, making seven saves in the match.
Looking at where the Greyhounds stand now, O’Brien said that he feels good about their position as a team at this point in the season.
“I think everything is starting to come together now,” he said. “I was expecting a quicker start to the season, but I think it was a big [request to] ask for a lot of new players coming in to start as quick as we thought we were going to. ”
The Greyhounds will travel to Saint Joseph’s College this evening for their final match of the regular season, which is set to begin at 6 p.m.
