PLYMOUTH, Wis. – The Lakeland University men's soccer team established a new program record for wins in a season and did so in style, defeating one of Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference's best teams with a 2-1 victory over Aurora University Saturday afternoon at John Taylor Memorial Field.
Colin Davis (
Fr.-Chesterfield, Mo.) scored the go-ahead goal just before halftime and the Muskies won a showdown for first place in the NACC to improve to 10-2-1 overall and 4-1-1 in conference play. Lakeland won its 10th match in a season for the first time, breaking the former school record of nine wins set back in 1994.
The Muskies recovered from allowing an early goal to not just get back into the match but to control play a good deal of the rest of the way. Lakeland finished the match with advantages of 13-12 in shot attempts and 7-3 in shots on goal, and withstood the Spartans' frantic attempts to tie late while surrendering just one shot on goal in the final 45 minutes.
The NACC runners up last year and in the top four in the conference each of the last four years, Aurora (7-3-1 overall, 4-2 NACC) struck early with a quick transition including a through ball by Carlos Viayra to Aaron Saldana, who scored from 12 yards out for a 1-0 lead just six minutes, 14 seconds into the match.
The Muskies settled in, though, and tied the match in the 19th minute.
Aaron Cortez (
Fr.-Sheboygan, Wis.) passed in a short corner kick to
Austin Eigenberger-Vahsholtz (
Jr.-Grafton, Wis.), who gave it right back to Cortez, who hit a looping shot from left wing just over the hand of Spartans goalkeeper Brett Miller and in for his second goal of the season.
Lakeland continued to attack with seven corner kicks in all in the first half, and nearly took the lead on a blast from
Isai Gil (
Jr.-Beaumont, Calif.) from close range that Miller turned away with just over three minutes left in the half. The Muskies would break through with just over a minute left in the half, with
Cody Vojta (
So.-St. Germain, Wis.) and
Justin Cain (
Jr.-Houston, Texas) both winning balls in the offensive end. Cain then passed ahead to
Jordan Davis-Troller (
Sr.-Cottage Grove, Wis.), who slipped a pass between two defenders to Davis inside the 18-yard box, and the freshman cut a shot inside the left post for his second goal of the season.
Lakeland weathered an early shot attempt by Aurora's Isaac Jacobo that was saved by
Ali Faiad (
Fr.-Alexandria, Egypt) less than 10 minutes into the second half, but that would be the Spartans' last shot on goal. The Muskies even appeared to have stretched the lead to 3-1 at one point when
Woodlens Frederic (
Fr.-Green Bay, Wis.) scored in the 58th minute, but after a long discussion among officials the goal was called off due to handball on Lakeland.
Aurora kept challenging until the final minutes, but a trio of shots in the final seven minutes all went wide. The Spartans' last attempts in the final minute were disrupted by a host of Muskies, including Eigenberger-Vahsholtz,
Adam Qandeel (
Fr.-Sheboygan, Wis.) and
Yovanni Serna (
Fr.-Lone Rock, Wis.) all challenging passes and the match ending with
Andrew DeJaynes (
Jr.-Springfield, Ill.) heading away Aurora's last pass as time expired.
Lakeland snapped an 11-game losing streak in the series against Aurora with its first win over the Spartans since 2013 and is now alone in first place in the NACC, with its 13 points from four wins and a tie one point ahead of Edgewood University in second.
The Muskies now get ready to face the University of Wisconsin in the first-ever match between the programs Tuesday at 5 p.m. in Madison. The match will count as an exhibition for Lakeland but as a regular season match for the Badgers. The Muskies then return to conference play Wednesday night when they travel to take on Illinois Tech at 7 p.m. in Chicago.
