On the afternoon of Oct. 7, the Men’s Soccer team took on The College of Wooster’s Fighting Scots in a drawn-out battle for goals. The Tigers took a 1-0 win, the goal coming late in the second half.
The game started off with an aggressive shot by David Quayle, ’21, that went wide right. This original shot was followed by several fouls and shots from the Fighting Scots. Then 22 minutes into the game, the first of four yellow cards for the Tigers was served to Matt Bayler, ’18.
Three minutes later, Evan Dinopoulos, ’21, subbed in for Scott Durham, ’20. Wasting no time, Dinopoulos took a shot at the Wooster goal that was saved by their keeper. The Tigers pushed on, but had another yellow card served 33 minutes into the half to Alex Benoit, ’18. The crowd was extremely unhappy at this point, which could be heard from their grumbling and frustrated shouts when calls were made.
The Tigers didn’t give up, but received two more fouls just before halftime.
Coming out into the second half, there were five fouls right away with four being given to Wittenberg and only one for the Fighting Scots. But, Julian Gonzalez, ’20, came out of nowhere and headed straight for the goal, with a shot that was saved by the goalie. Pushing on, it was obvious that the Tigers and the Scots were tired and frustrated but neither team was letting up. Wooster took a shot, that went high, sending Jack Snider, ’19, up to deter the ball. However, when a Wooster player and Snider collided, the collision ended with a yellow card for the Tiger keeper.
Three minutes later, the Tigers had fought the ball all the way back up the field. It was there that Alberto Zaragoza, ’19, fired a shot that flew just by the post. It was 66 minutes into the game when the Tigers got another chance at the goal, when Austin Lewis, ’19, flicked a header that was saved by the Fighting Scot goalie.
Four minutes after Lewis’ header, the first of two yellow cards was given to Wooster, resulting in a substitution. The Tigers kept pushing as Nick Togliatti, ’21, took another shot at the goal that went just a little high. One minute later, the second yellow card was given to the Fighting Scots. Four minutes after that, the final yellow card of the game was served to Andrew Yokum, ’18.
With only seven minutes left in the game, and no goals, it was looking like overtime was coming. But, Jacob Snowden, ’21, subbed in for Dinopoulos and took a shot right at the goal that was saved by the Wooster goalie.
Not to be deterred, with only seven seconds remaining in the game, Snowden took the final shot of the game, sliding right past the goalie and landing the Tigers with their win over the Fighting Scots. The energy on the field and in the crowd, was a sight to see, the team came bounding over and smothered Snowden in some brotherly love.
“We worked hard for 90 minutes, and it was that work that allowed us to take advantage of the opportunity we got with seven seconds left in the game,” Snider said.
At the end of the night, the Tigers led in the amount of shots taken with eight and Wooster’s five. Snider had his first shut-out of the season, and the Tigers took down their NCAC rival.
The Tigers will be home again on Oct. 14, taking on Denison University’s Big Red.
