Men’s Soccer Drops Thriller to Wisconsin Lutheran

CHICAGO, Ill. – On a chilly Saturday afternoon at Stuart Field, the Illinois Tech men's soccer team (4-5, 0-4 NACC) played one of its most exciting matches of the year on Saturday against Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference foe Wisconsin Lutheran (4-6, 3-1 NACC). After the Scarlet Hawks came back to tie the score after trailing 2-0, the Warriors scored with just under four minutes left to pull back ahead

How it Happened

• Despite the Scarlet Hawks controlling possession for most of the first half, the Warriors showed they had the top shooting percentage in the conference for a reason. Four of Lutheran's five first-half shots on net.
• KJ McNealey Jr. started the scoring with his fourth tally of the year for the Warriors in the 18th minute, scoring on a rebound off of a Kenneth Sutton shot to give WLC a 1-0 lead.
• Just eight minutes later, Sutton found team goals leader Jason Cano, who pounded in his 11th goal of 2018 to double the lead.
• The Scarlet Hawks continued to apply pressure, outshooting the Warriors 10-5 in the first half. This continued into the second half, which paid off in the 52nd minute when Christopher Reed fed Luke Holzman right in front of the net to cut the lead in half for Holzman's third goal of the season.
• Anastasios Manolis regrouped after allowing two first half goals to make a couple of highlight reel saves, which continued to feed into Tech's energy.
• Peter Fouchet and Quentin Dreilich connected for a highlight reel play of their own in the 64th minute. Dreilich fired a corner kick to Fouchet, who stood at the end of the line. With perfect placement on both sides, Fouchet pushed a header past Lutheran keeper Cedric Guichard for the game-tying goal.
• After a back-and-forth home stretch of the match, Juan Serna gave the Warriors a 3-2 lead with 3:52 remaining off of a beautiful cross from Yussef Sahraoui.
• With the result in the balance, Guicahrd was solid in net for WLC. The Warriors netminder saves shots from bout Fouchet and Dreilich in the match's final minute.

Scarlet Hawk Standouts

• Fouchet had his most active offensive match of the season, scoring once on five shots (two on net).
• Holzman scored on one of this three shots.
• Dreilich had an assist and was a stabilizing bench force in the midfield.
• Reed tallied and assist.
• Manolis made six saves in net.
• Oluwaseun Ogunsanya led the Scarlet Hawks with six shots and three shots on goal.

Stats to Know

• Tech was defeated despite outshooting the Warriors 25-13 overall and 12-9 on goal.
• Guichard made 10 saves for the Warriors.
• The Scarlet Hawks outdid the Warriors on corner kicks 7-1.

Up Next

• Tech is right back at it tomorrow with a non-conference match against the North Central College Cardinals at 3:30 p.m. at Stuart Field. Live audio, video, and statistics will be available. The live audio will be powered by Illinois Media School.