 "Photo: Matt Mitgang | Student Life")
The No. 13 Washington University men’s soccer team extended its unbeaten streak to four games with a 3-3 tie with No. 18 Dominican University on Friday night and a 1-0 victory over Maryville University on Monday night. The tie and win, both coming at Francis Field, improved the Bears’ record to 11-3-1 on the season.
It looked like the Red and Green, ranked 16th going into the weekend, were on their way to knocking off then-ranked No. 21 Dominican. A late comeback allowed the Stars to match the scores in a tie.
Despite having a lower national ranking than Wash. U., Dominican was ranked three spots higher in NCAA regional rankings coming into the game, which play a significant role in determining post-season births.
The Bears notched the first goal of a high-scoring affair in the seventh minute of the game when freshman forward Patrick McLean stripped the ball from Dominican goalkeeper Piotr Sliwa in the box and easily placed it into an empty net. McLean scored again 10 minutes later off a loose ball in the box to put Wash. U. up 2-0 on his third goal of the season.
“They made a couple of mistakes and gave us some goals,” Head Coach Joe Clarke said. “They had us under a little pressure in the beginning of the game, and we scored against it.”
A goal by Dominican forward Stan Micic late in the first half cut the Bears’ lead to 2-1 going into halftime, but junior forward John Hengel added to the Wash. U. lead in the 60th minute after spinning around a Dominican defender to leave him one-on-one with Sliwa. Hengel buried his team-leading eighth goal of the year to put the Red and Green up 3-1.
“I thought it would be the clincher,” Hengel said, “but unfortunately not.”
The Bears nearly went up 4-1 after co-captain Marshall Plow sent a free kick through the Dominican wall with slightly more than 14 minutes to play. Plow hit the post, and 1:13 later, Dominican forward Aaron Romo scored on a header to cut the deficit to 3-2. Just 1:07 later, Dominican defender Michael Kapusta sent a loose ball past Wash. U. goalkeeper John Smelcer to tie the score at 3-3.
“[The free kick] would have put it away, but it was sort of lucky anyway because there was a hole in the wall,” Plow said. “It was really tough [losing the lead], but I think we played hard. It was just [that] they were able to knock a couple balls in the box, and we were a smaller team, so they took advantage of that.”
Wash. U. rebounded on Monday night with 1-0 victory over Maryville. The Bears scored the game’s lone goal in the seventh minute when senior midfielder Pierre Hoppenot sent a pass from Hengel past diving Maryville goalkeeper Michael Flately.
Maryville’s use of a high back line kept Wash. U. off the board the rest of the way, drawing 11 offsides penalties in the process.
The Bears’ defense held the Saints to just two shots on goal, and Smelcer was able to pick up his fourth shutout of the year and the team’s eighth.
“Anytime you play a team that plays a really high back line that plays for offsides, it changes the game a lot,” Clarke said. “So it made for a frustrating game for our guys, but we got the win, and we finally got another shutout, so we’re ready to move forward.”
Wash. U. returns to action with two UAA games next weekend. First, the team will face No. 17 University of Rochester in Rochester, New York on Friday, Oct. 31 at 7:30 p.m. and will then travel to Cleveland to face Case Western Reserve University Sunday.
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