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Tommy Watkins notched his first goal of the season on Friday |
Box Score
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – The University of Dayton men’s soccer team lost 3-2 to the SIU Edwardsville Cougars on Friday at Korte Stadium in their first match of the SIUE Men’s Soccer Classic. With the loss Dayton falls to 2-3-1 on the season.
The Flyers were outshot 13-6 in the match as redshirt junior goalkeeper Tyler Picard made four stops for UD. SIUE posted one save on the evening.
Dayton was led in the scoring department by a pair of seniors. Midfielder Oskar Kretzinger tallied his first career goal as a Flyer after joining the squad in August. Defender Tommy Watkins also got in on the action with his first strike of the year.
“I thought that we didn’t come out real strong in the first half. The second half was a different game, and we controlled the tempo. What let us down was a couple of poor defensive decisions and poor tracking of our runners. Our guys did well getting back into the game after trailing 1-0, but in the end of the day the mistakes hurt us. Once you get the lead you have to protect it,” Dayton head coach Dennis Currier said.
SIUE’s Jared Tejada scored the opening goal in the 43rd minute on a give and go from Jordan Barnes to give the Cougars a 1-0 advantage.
Kretzinger responded early in the second half with a driving shot from 10 yards out to beat Cougar goalkeeper Nick Collico.
“Oskar has been dangerous in a lot of games that we have played. With each week he gets sharper. He was able to connect on a goal in the second half that got us back into the game,” Currier said.
Watkins gave the Flyers the go-ahead goal, scoring on a penalty kick at 63:27. The lead was short-lived as SIUE’s Kevin Bielicki struck from in front of the goal in the 72nd minute to knot the game at two and send it into overtime.
The Cougars’ Jack Twellman struck the knockout blow to UD in the final minute of the first overtime, capitalizing on a rebound opportunity.
“Anytime you lose in overtime, it’s not a good way to lose. We did well getting back into the game, but we have to pay attention to the small defensive details and make sure we’re protecting the lead,” Currier said.
Dayton wraps up the SIU Men’s Soccer Classic on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. ET against UMKC. Live stats are available at www.DaytonFlyers.com.
