Box Score I
Photo Gallery I
IYS Stars Clinic Photo Gallery
INDIANAPOLIS - The IUPUI men's soccer team scraped together enough offense and fended off a scrappy Marian College squad on its way to a 2-1 victory at Kuntz Stadium on Thursday night. The Jaguars outshot Marian 26-6 overall and 11-2 on net and had nine more corner kicks than the guest, but still found themselves clinging for dear life down the stretch.
After a scoreless first half, Head Coach
Steve Franklin delivered a pointed message to his squad during an extended halftime speech.
The message seemed to hit home as sophomore
Nate Ohmer gave the Jags a 1-0 lead in the 58th minute. Junior
Eric Weigman, positioned just outside the left edge of the 18-yard box, grounded a cross through traffic to Ohmer, who drilled a shot from in close. It was Weigman's second helper of the season and the ninth of his collegiate career.
IUPUI (6-4-2) added some insurance in the 72nd minute, capitalizing on its sixth corner kick of the game. Freshman
Taylor Rhodes arched the free kick to the back post where
Ben Heidari skied above the crowd to head a shot past Marian goalkeeper Brad Sontag.
Ohmer and Heidari became IUPUI's tenth and eleventh different goal scorers this season as Heidari scored his first career goal in his 56th career match.
However, Marian (3-10-0) refused to go down without a fight.
With backup goalkeeper
Francisco Maia already set to check in, the Knights broke up
Tyler Keever's shutout bid. Marian's Don Oldham served a free kick from just inside midfield to the edge of the six-yard box. Mark Manning was able to settle the ball, spin and angle a right-footed shot past Keever to cut the lead in half with 9:37 to play.
Previously, Marian had been blanked by their past five opponents.
From there, the IUPUI defense held Marian without a shot the rest of the way while the offense continued to keep the pressure on. Freshman
Perez Agaba rang a shot off the crossbar immediately after the ensuing kickoff after Manning's goal.
Agaba led IUPUI with six shots off the bench and Weigman and
Cameron Williams tried four apiece. Keever made just one save, stopping a T.J. Rauch angled attempt midway through the first half. Sontag made nine saves in defeat.
The win pushed IUPUI's home record to 4-0-1 on the season as the Jags won for the third time in four games. The Jags return to action next Tuesday when they take on crosstown rival Butler. Kickoff is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. from BU's Varsity Field.