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INDIANAPOLIS - Despite falling behind in the 32nd minute, the IUPUI men's soccer team rallied with two late first half goals en route to a 2-1 win over Western Illinois in both teams' Summit League opener at Kuntz Stadium on Saturday. Both of IUPUI's goals came from reserves as Jeff Keyler scored in the 38th minute and Ryan Robinson tallied in the 44th.

"We had a long discussion about understanding the importance of conference wins and getting three points every time you step on your home field," IUPUI Head Coach Steve Franklin said. "That gives you nine (points) and usually gets you a spot in the conference (tournament) semifinals and that's our goal."

Things looked ominous early though, as both teams had chances before Western Illinois (2-4-2, 0-1 Summit) finally tallied in the 32nd minute. The best scoring opportunity of the match prior to that was in the 15th minute when junior Matt Guy got loose on a breakaway. After his defender stumbled, Guy found himself in the free working up the right third of the field. We cranked a shot past WIU goalkeeper Andy Ryan, but saw the ball glance off the crossbar and out of play.  

The Leathernecks broke the scoreless tie when Jonathan Sandoval netted his first goal of the season. After a long restart in front of the Jaguars' bench, Alexis Dominguez flicked a header to Sandoval, who rolled his header attempt past Tyler Keever inside the right post.

"I was a little disappointed in the way we gave us the first goal. It was a silly foul at midfield and some poor marking on the restart," Franklin said. "Give our guys credit though. Nobody hung their heads. They just dug in and worked to get it back."

The game-tying goal was seemingly offense by accident, but an IUPUI goal nonetheless. With Robinson waiting on the sidelines to check in for Perez Agaba, the Uganda-native made his impact before heading off the pitch. Agaba beat a defender inside the left side of the penalty box and prepared to unload a shot. However, the ball went off his shin and right to Keyler, who rolled an easy attempt into the net for his team-high fourth goal of the year.

Just over six minutes later, Robinson's first career goal provided some controversy and proved to be the final margin. Senior Weston Hawkins brought the ball up on the right-hand side before laying a short lead pass in front of Robinson. The Western defense gave up on the play, assuming that the IUPUI (4-4, 1-0 Summit) attacker was offsides. However, the play continued and Robinson rolled a shot past Ryan for his first career score.

"I don't know. I was just playing the game," Robinson said, when asked if he was offsides or not. "I saw the goalie and I saw the goal and just took the shot. I kind of got lucky because it went right between the goalie's legs. I'm just happy it went in. I couldn't have asked for a better time to score."

"Ryan Robinson was a bull in a China shop today," Franklin said. "He was determined today and it's nice to reward a kid that's done a lot of hard work and had some good minutes in practice. He's a very physical player. He's not gifted with speed and he's not gifted with a boatload of technical ability, but his strength is to kind of get into tussles and create some opportunities out of those tussles. That's his game and he was effective today."

Defensively, IUPUI was fairly airtight in the second half, allowing just a slew of ambitious attempts from distance. Western outshot the Jaguars 15-8 overall as both teams put just three on frame. WIU's Charlie Bales led all players with three shot attempts and senior Nate Ohmer led the Jags with two tries.

Keever made two stops in the win.

IUPUI will return to action on Saturday, Oct. 2 when the Jaguars host Oakland University in Summit League play at Kuntz at 7:00 p.m.. The Athletics Department will recognize the 2000 IUPUI Men's Soccer Team during halftime that evening as that collection of Jaguars was the program's first-ever NCAA participant in any sport.