Shreveport, La.  -  Senior Jeff Schield (Middleton, Wis./Middleton) sealed the Western Illinois victory with a goal in the 65th minute to defeat Centenary, 2-1, at Mayo Field.

"I though offensively we played really well," said Western Illinois head coach Dr. Eric Johnson. "I thought our guys hung together after Centenary tied the match and defensively, we played solid other than the one goal we allowed."

The match remained scoreless until the 39th minute of action when senior Jona Andrade (Miami, Fla./Sunset Senior) scored his fourth goal of the season off an assist from teammate Kevin Hinds (Charleston, Ill./Charleston) who passed him the ball off a corner kick.

The Gents (3-8-1, 1-4-0 Summit League) tied the match in the 53 minute of play when Will Todd scored his first goal of the season from 10 yards off an assist from teammate John McHugh.

The Leathernecks (10-4-2, 2-2-0 Summit League) got the game-winning goal from Schield who scored his first goal of the season in the 65th minute of play off an assist from teammate Adam Rappin (Long Grove, Ill. /Stevenson) who passed him the ball off a corner kick.

"We had a bunch of different guys who stepped up and played well tonight," said Johnson. "Arthur Paszkowski's play was very dangerous on offense as he took two shots on goal and was really good on the ball. Louis Oswald also played well tonight and gave us quality minutes. I think our movement off the ball was better than normal, we ran better and we got great play from our outside midfielders in Rappin and Nathan Sanchez."

Junior goal keeper Stephen Paterson (Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada/Sir Winston Churchill) made three saves in the match and only allowed one goal.

The Leatherneck offense had nine different players take a shot in the match to out shoot Centenary 18-13. Western also took two corner kicks, scoring on both kicks, to Centenary's three corner kicks.

"We hope this match will be a springboard to playing well at home next week and playing well against Central Arkansas on Sunday," said Johnson. "Any win on the road is special, so we are enjoying it right now."

Western will compete next against Central Arkansas on Sunday, Oct. 26 at 11 a.m. at Farris Field in a non conference match.