EUGENE, Ore. – Sophomore Chris Longi punched in a diving header just 15 minutes into the game and the defense took over from there as the Northwest Christian men’s soccer team opened the 2010 campaign with a 1-0 victory over Simpson University (Calif.).
It was the best defensive effort in the history of NCU men’s soccer as the Beacons allowed just two shots on the night, without a single shot-on-goal. The previous record for shots-against was seven, back in the 2006 season, and Northwest Christian has only held an opponent under ten shots three times.
“Our coordination and organization defensively was amazing,” said first-year Head Coach Brett Bentley. “The backline played well together, and Lucas Cash is showing the ability to handle the sweeper position as a freshman. He was awesome tonight.”
Without a shot put on frame, sophomore Goalkeeper Nick Kratzke picks up his first collegiate shutout and victory, without recording a single save.
It wasn’t all defense, however. The Beacons held possession for nearly the entire first 45 minutes, and keeping the ball in the front half of the field, led to a number of scoring opportunities. Senior Aaron Dilla had a hard-struck 15-yarder saved by a diving Matt Deacon in goal for the Red Hawks in the first ten minutes.
Then, with just 14:53 gone by on the game clock, junior Alex Crossingham send a hard cross into the box where Longi dove and punched in the header for what would become the game-winner, the first of his career.
The Beacons pick up the victory, and on day one of the season match their win total from 2009. Afterwards, Bentley gave most of the credit to the play of his center-midfielders. He said, “Jun Yoon, Denton Brown, and TJ Prentice were out of this world, keeping possession, winning the ball and controlling game play. They sped things up when they needed to and slowed things down towards the end. They were amazing tonight.”
Northwest Christian (1-0) will be back in action next week as they travel to Washington to face Puget Sound on Wednesday and Pacific Lutheran on Thursday.