GREEN BAY, Wis.
(GreenBayPhoenix.com) - The Green Bay (11-4-1, 7-2-1 HL) men's soccer
winning streak extends to seven games after a 2-1 come-from-behind win against
Loyola (3-10-2, 3-3-1 HL) Saturday at Aldo Santaga Stadium. The winning streak
is the longest under the leadership of head coach Tom Poitras, who is in his
seventh season with the Phoenix.
"As the season goes on, our team continues to show
perseverance and character and they showed it again tonight," said head coach
Tom Poitras.
After a scoreless first half, Loyola struck first less than
eight minutes into the second half. Will Martin was deep outside the box on the
right side when he passed across to Eric Marofske for the goal and the 1-0
lead. Marofske's goal landed in the lower right corner of the net. It was the
first goal that keeper Ryan Wehking (St. Louis, Mo.) gave up in three games.
With less than 1:30 to play in regulation, David
Bernhardsson (Tjorn, Sweden) was deep on the right side of the box when he
found Tony Walls (Wauwatosa, Wis.) in front of the net for the header goal and
the 1-1 tie. The goal was Walls first since Sept. 10 at Missouri State and
fourth of the season.
Neither team was able to fire another shot as time expired,
sending the game into overtime for the fourth time this season for Green Bay.
Just over two minutes of overtime had expired when JC Banks
(Milwaukee, Wis.) drew a foul inside the box, forcing a penalty kick for Green
Bay. Loyola's Doug Ferner was issued a yellow card for the foul on the play.
Walls stepped up to take the penalty kick for Green Bay and
converted for the third time this season, giving Green Bay the 2-1 overtime
win. Walls is now 3-3 on the season in penalty-kick situations for the Phoenix.
"Their goalkeeper is a big guy, he got a hand on the goal
but Tony placed it well enough to keep it in the net," said Poitras. "Both of
Tony's goals were huge for us and will help in the standings with the race for
that second seed being so tight," said Poitras.
Green Bay outshot Loyola 18-5 and 10-4 on corner kicks. The
Phoenix had six shots on goal compared to the Ramblers' two. Walls led the way
for Green Bay with six shots while Bernhardsson added four.
With the win, Green Bay is in sole possession of second
place in the Horizon League standings with one week of regular-season play
remaining. The Phoenix will host Wright State (4-10-1, 0-5-1 HL) in its final
regular season game on Saturday, Nov. 6 at 2 p.m.
Should Green Bay clinch the #2 seed, it will receive a first
round bye in the Horizon League Championships which kick off Nov. 9.
