Roberts Wesleyan Redhawks

Box Score

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (August 26, 2011) – In their season opener, the Raiders Men's Soccer team lost 3-2 in overtime to the visiting Indiana Wesleyan University Wildcats. Junior Seth Douwsma scored the winning goal for the Wildcats in the overtime period. Dominic Coco (Spencerport, NY) scored both goals for the Raiders. 

The Raiders struck early off the foot of senior forward Dominic Coco in the 3^rd minute. Coco knocked a point-blank shot just outside the 6-yard box to score the first goal of the season for the Raiders.  

The Wildcats counted three minutes later when senior forward Zach Grantham scored on a similar point-blank shot. 

Both teams were back and forth in the first half with the Raiders edging the Wildcats 6 to 4 shots on goal and 2 corner kicks to 1. The Raiders had the better looks and opportunities and put pressure on the Wildcats defense later in the half.  

Freshman midfielder Stephen Stewart (Rochester, NY) put a good cross into the box, but Coco couldn't connect on the pass. Eventually Coco scored his second goal of the half in the 31^st minute from 10 yards out.  

Gregg Reuter (Williamson, NY) had a good lock in the 42^nd minute inside the 18-yard box with a one-on-one with the Wildcats' goalie, but couldn't handle the ball and fumbled his shot. 

In the second half,  the first real chance for both teams came in the 55^th minute when Zach Grantham had a header for the Wildcats that glanced just left of the post.  

In the 58^th minute Johnny Lobene was brought down in the penalty box, but freshman Michael Cunningham couldn't convert the penalty kick for the Raiders as Dylan McCauley made a stellar diving save.  

The Wildcats equalized in the 60^th minute with a goal by Lucas Carpenter to make the score 2-2. The midfielder was able to poke the ball through traffic as Raiders goalkeeper Eric Read couldn't get a good look on the shot.  

As the second half progressed both sides continued to create scoring chances. In the 69^th minute The Raiders couldn't convert on three consecutive corner kicks off the foot of Cunningham.  

Play became tense in the 72^nd minute when Donovan Wilson received a yellow card on a hard tackle as a Wildcat player was heading out of bounds. In the 73^rd minute, Read made a superb save when Devin Randle came into the penalty box, but the ball was just too far away to make a clean shot as Read slid onto the ball to make the save on a potential game winner for the Wildcats.  

Wilson received a second yellow card in the 79^th minute on another rough tackle, resulting in the Raiders playing a man down the rest of the match.  

85^th minute, the Wildcats had a chance to win the match with a one-on-one shot by Devin Randle in open space, but Read got a hand on the ball and sent it wide of the goal. The Raiders fought hard playing a man down and force extra-time.