Men's Soccer Lose in OT of IIAC Tournament Semi-finals
Nov 5, 2014
DUBUQUE, Iowa - The University of Dubuque men's soccer team played even through 90 minutes of action on Wednesday evenng before a late Loras goal in the opening overtime ended the Spartans hope of making it to the championship game on Saturday. UD fell behind in the second half 0-1 before Brandon Wiley grabbed the unassisted goal at 76:56 to knot the game at 1-1. The two rivals played to a tie to end regulation. In overtime, the Spartans collected a shot by Felipe Sanchez midway through the extra period to force a keeper save at 95:38. Just two minutes later, the Duhawks scored the game winner at 97:54.
Spectaular play by the UD's keeper Riley Jensen, gave the boisterous Spartans fans plenty to cheer about at the Rock Bowl after he made play after play in the net. Riley squashed 12 shots on goal to the top-ranked Duhawks and ended the season with a 100 saves in over 1,424 minutes in goal. He has a save percentage of .806 after appearing in 15 games for the Spartans. He ranks second in the IIAC in save percentage and in saves per game while ranking in the Top-100 nationally in NCAA statistics. The Duhawks out shot the Spartans 33-9 and finished with more corner kicks 15-4.
UD had their chances forcing the Duhawks keeper into collecting five saves after taking nine shots in the loss. Sanchez and wiley led UD with three shots and two on goal for each of them. Kahlin Gonzalez and Danny Daniels both added a shot on goal and Andrew Guelle came off the bench for a shot on goal.
The Spartans rank 78th in the NCAA rankings for toughest schedule in 2014. UD's opponents this season have won 148 games and lost 114 with 24 ties among the group. The Spartans will look to a strong future as they lose only a handful of seniors from a team which finished 2014 with a 7-9-3 overall, 4-2-1 record in the IIAC.
