Final Stats
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - In perhaps its most complete performance of the year, the UNO men's soccer team battled valiantly to a 1-1 draw at SIU Edwardsville Tuesday night at Korte Stadium.
UNO scored in the 33rd minute on an own goal to take the lead on the road, and after surrendering an early second-half equalizer, the Mavs held SIUE scoreless for the next 63 minutes, including two overtime periods, to earn their first result since a season-opening 2-1 win at UMKC.
UNO snapped a nine-game losing streak with the tie against the Cougars, a Missouri Valley Conference member who was coming off a 1-0 loss to Creighton on Saturday. SIUE, which claims two men's soccer national championships (DI, 1979; DII, 1972) is now 7-6-4 on the season. UNO moved to 1-9-1 on the year following the first overtime game in team history.
The Cougars were a step ahead to start the match, generating most of the attacks in the match and hitting a post and crossbar, but UNO goalie
Josh Christensen played a large part in keeping SIUE off the scoreboard with decisive decision-making on many SIUE breaks.
The Mavericks stunned the Cougar crowd by taking a 1-0 lead with 12:53 remaining in the first half. Trailing 9-1 in shots at that point, the Mavs got a big boost on an own goal by the Cougars. SIUE cleared the ball out of the back to midfield, where UNO center back
Mo Salama won a loose ball. Salama played a ball over the top of the Cougars' back line, which forward
Craig Buettner ran on to. Buettner nicked the ball with his head over SIUE goalkeeper Nick Collico, and as the ball rolled in to the six-yard box toward the goal, an SIUE defender slid to try and clear the ball but ended up knocking it into SIUE's net.
After the goal, the Mavs' confidence surged, with Buettner just missing wide on a shot in the 34th minute and
Joe Marinkovich blasting high in the 39th minute.
It didn't take the Cougars long to equalize after halftime, though. In the 47th minute, Derek Huffman volleyed a cross from Nash Maduekwe into the net from six yards out to tie the game at 1-1.
The Mavs shut down the Cougars the rest of the way, however. Christensen officially recorded seven saves in the match and forced numerous SIUE shots high and wide of the goal with his big frame and aggressive decisions. The Mavs' back line steered most of SIUE's threats away from the penalty box throughout the second half and overtime.
Buettner finished with a team-high three shots. The Mavs were outshot 23-8 overall and 9-2 on goal.
The Mavs close out the season with a road trip to Florida in the first week of November. On Nov. 4, the Mavs play at Jacksonville. Then they follow that up with a Nov. 5 game at Stetson to end the season.
