Top Four Seeds Survive at Men's Soccer Tournament
LIVONIA, Mich. - (TOURNAMENT PAGE) - The top seeds held in the opening round of the 2022 Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) Men's Soccer Tournament. No. 1 Madonna send No. 8 Siena Heights home, winning 5-0 to advance to the semifinals. The Crusaders are joined by second-seeded Indiana Tech after the Warriors defeated No. 7 UM-Dearborn 3-1 in the lowest scoring match of the day. Third-seeded UNOH eliminated No. 6 Lourdes 4-1 and No. 4 Aquinas rolled by fifth-seeded Lawrence Tech 5-0.
Semifinals are set for Nov. 9 with seeds one and two hosting: Aquinas travels to Madonna while UNOH faces Indiana Tech. The winners of those two matches will meet in the championship on Nov. 12 at the higher seed.
#1 Madonna (9-0-2, 15-0-3) def. #8 Siena Heights (4-6-1, 6-10-1), 5-0
Top-seeded Madonna scored in the opening minutes of the match when Jordy Lopez found the back of the net on a pass from Matthew Rafferty at the 5:39 mark. SHU goalie Ricardo Moreno made two big saves to keep the score at 1-0 at the half. The Crusaders came out hot in the second half, adding four goals to their total. Wagner Gameiro got an unassisted goal to start the streak and Lopez followed 90 seconds later. SHU was never able to find a rhythm, getting only three shots on goal for the entire two halves. honier Torres set up Breno Stapcinskas for another Madonna goal in the 75th minute and Keegan O'Callahan capped the second half with a mark in the 89th minute off the foot of Stefan Baseski.
Stat Leaders
Goals: Lopez 2, Gamerio, Stapcinskas, O'Callahan 1 (MU)
Assists: Rafferty, Torres, Baseski 1 (MU)
Saves: Moreno 4, Wojciechowski 1 (SHU); Ouendeno 3 (MU)
#4 Aquinas (6-4-1, 10-7-2) def. #5 Lawrence Tech (5-4-2, 5-8-6), 5-0
The Saints got on the board in the 10th minute when Mason Sills took a pass from Joshua Clemitson and slipped behind the line to go head-to-head with the keeper. Less than two minutes later, Andrea Ghiggini scored off an assist from Giuseppe Calabrese. Jai Tahlan closed out the first half with a goal from 30 yards out for the 3-0 lead. Ghiggini scored again seconds into the second half off a penalty kick and Tahlan scored his second goal having been assisted by Milan Hoefnagels and Theo Maye. Marko Matovski recorded two saves for Lawrence Tech as the Saints defense limited the Blue Devils in opportunites, while Antonio Strassioto notched two to preserve the clean sheet.
Stat Leaders
Goals: Ghiggini, Tahlan 2; Sills 1 (AQ)
Assists: Clemitson, Calabrese, Hoefnagels, Maye 1 (AQ)
Saves: Matovski 2 (LTU); Strassioto 2 (AQ)
#3 UNOH (8-1-2, 14-1-4) def. #6 Lourdes (4-4-3, 6-9-4), 4-1
UNOH scored all four of its goals in the first 35 minutes of the match. Tomas Echevarria lofted a ball that the wind carried over Gray Wolf keeper Igor Silva to start the scoring at the 7:51 mark. Echevarria, ong with Simon Von Benzon, then assisted on a Jovaunn Ramos score with 24:24 to play before half. Moritz Guettel made it 3-0 seven minutes later on a free kick from the left side of the box. Echevarria notched his second tally with 10:11 left before intermission for a 4-0 lead. Lourdes finally broke through with 1:13 to play when Anthony Samuel converted a penalty kick for the lone Gray Wolf score. The Racers outshot Lourdes 19-11 and held the Gray Wolves to five shots on goal. UNOH keeper Danilo Abayo saved four.
Stat Leaders
Goals: Echevarria 2, Ramos, Guettel 1 (UNOH); Samuel 1 (LU)
Assists: Von Benzon 2, Echevarria 1 (UNOH)
Saves: Silva 4 (LU); Abayo 4 (UNOH)
#2 Indiana Tech (8-1-2, 11-2-5) def. #7 UM-Dearborn (4-5-2, 6-10-3), 3-1
Lucca Motta got Indiana Tech on the board first with an unassisted goal in the 19th minute. UM-Dearborn answered four minutes later when the Wolverines were awarded a spot kick that Andrew Schwartz slotted home. Motta answered for Tech 47 seconds later when he scored off a ball from Luke Jones for a 2-1 lead at the half. Warren Moss scored IT's final goal in the 61st minute assisted by Douglas Appiah and Aaron Asamoah. The Wolverines were held to five shots, three of them on goal as Jaume Salvado made a pair of saves for the Warriors. Elijah Burlak recorded six saves in the loss
Stat Leaders
Goals: Motta 2, Moss 1 (IT); Schwartz 1 (UMD)
Assists: Jones, Appiak, Asamoah (3)
Saves: Burlak 6 (UMD); Salvado 2 (IT)