Men's Soccer pours in season-high six goals in NACC win over Rockford

MEQUON, Wis. – The Concordia University Wisconsin Men's Soccer team entered Tuesday's Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference match against Rockford University looking for a couple of things. First, the Falcons needed to find a way to win its second NACC match of the season and move to .500 in league play. Secondly, CUW needed to generate more offense, having scored just two goals in its last three matches. Both missions were accomplished as CUW routed Rockford by a 6-1 score at Fitting Field.

Sophomore Justin Clayton (Crete, Ill.) paced the CUW attack with a career-best five points, scoring two goals and adding one assist. Five different Falcons scored, including freshman Jake Swihart (Oostburg, Wis.), who netted his first career collegiate goal.

Freshman Luis Loya (Bolingbrook, Ill.) and Swihart each finished with a career-best three points as he player scored one goal and added an assist in the five-goal win. Also scoring was junior Keegan Van Dusseldorp (Burlington, Wis.), recording his team-leading ninth goal of the season. Van Dusseldorp is one goal away from tying his career high as he scored 10 times last fall.

Rounding out the scoring for CUW was sophomore Jordan Moehn (Fond du Lac, Wis.). The six goals were a season-best for the Falcons and most in a match since they put up 10 on the Regents a season ago.

Senior Eric Vogel (Itasca, Ill.) and junior Alec Brew (Appleton, Wis.) split time at the keeper position for CUW. Vogel got the start and picked up his third win of the season, while Brew played the final 45 minutes and did not see a shot on goal.

The Falcons owned possession throughout, recording 50 shots. The 50 shots are a team record in stats dating back to the 2003 season, besting 47 that came against Rockford in 2006. Van Dusseldorp recorded 13 of those shots, while Clayton pitched in with eight. Rockford keeper Kyle Adams was busy all afternoon, finishing with 20 saves.

After a nearly scoreless first 20 minutes, Van Dusseldorp put the Falcons up 1-0 with a goal at the 19:54 mark, assisted by Clayton. Clayton then followed with an unassisted goal 1:05 later, giving the Falcons a 2-0 lead.

Rockford would cut the Falcons lead in half before the break when Nathan Hathcock sent a free kick in the direction of Erik Manriquez who was there with the header, making the score 2-1.

The second half was all CUW as the Falcons struck four times, beginning with a Moehn header off a free kick from freshman Cobi Ortega (Evanston, Ill.). Clayton then added his second goal of the match, a header off a Diego Campos (Milwaukee, Wis.) free kick before Swihart made it 5-1 off an assist from Loya.

Loya would then put the finishing touches on the match, scoring with just under 12 minutes remaining. Sean Cropper (Green Bay, Wis.) started the play with a lengthy pass to Swihart to made a nice touch pass to Loya for the final goal.

CUW (4-8-1, 2-2-0 NACC) will look to build off Tuesday's momentum when they host Aurora University in a NACC matchup Saturday afternoon. The Falcons and Spartans are set for a 3:30 p.m. start.