MACOMB, Ill. – The Western Illinois men's soccer team fell to Oral Roberts by a 2-1 score in overtime at John MacKenzie Alumni Field on Friday, Oct. 15.
The Fighting Leathernecks (3-6-4, 1-2-1 Summit) took the lead on an early goal by Oskar Gasecki, but were unable to hang on as the Golden Eagles (4-6-4, 2-1-1) found the equalizer in the 72nd minute before winning in overtime.
"We just didn't make the big plays today," said head coach Dr. Eric Johnson. "In order to win you've got to finish plays and we just didn't do that. My hat's off to Oral Roberts, they got a great finish by a great player and that was the difference"
Gasecki's goal, his first of the season, came off a corner kick at the 3:52 mark of the match. Adam Rappin served the corner to the far post, where Kooten Johnson redirected the ball off his head to Gasecki, who beat Oral Roberts goalkeeper Andrew Techanchuk with his own header into the right side of the net.
"Our goal was just a result of putting into play the things we do in practice everyday," Johnson said. "Kooten's job is to stay on the far post and if he can get a shot, he takes a shot. If not, his job is to get the ball to Oskar on the near post and both players did exactly what they've been taught to do."
Neither team was able to find the back of the net until midway through the second half when the Golden Eagles drew even at 1-1 following a free kick.
John David James took a free kick and served the ball just inside the left side of the box where Daniel Premenko got a head on it for his first goal of the year at the 71:26 mark of regulation.
"We didn't do a great job of shutting them down on free kicks and restarts," said Johnson. "On our end, we converted on a restart but we didn't get a goal from the normal play on the field and ideally we'd like to get one of each."
Oral Roberts nearly won the match early in overtime, but a shot by Marco Hernandez bounced off the post and back into the field of play.
Western Illinois nearly found the game-winning goal late in overtime, but a free kick from Charlie Bales sailed just past to post and out of play.
The Golden Eagles would finally find the game-winner with just over 30 seconds remaining in overtime when Tyler Vining hit a volley on a bouncing ball in the box from 18 yards out for the 2-1 victory.
"I thought we did some really good things today," Johnson said. "Defensively we shut them down in the field of play, we just got sloppy on the restarts and that's why we lost."
Andy Ryan (3-6-4) suffered the loss despite making six saves in the match. Mariano Leo led all players with four shots while Gasecki finished with three.
Western Illinois outshot Oral Roberts by a 14 to 12 margin, but put just two shots on target compared to eight for the Golden Eagles. The Leathernecks were awarded five corner kicks to Oral Roberts' three.
Western Illinois returns to action when it plays host to Western Michigan in non-league action. The match is slated to begin at 2 p.m. immediately following the women's soccer match against Centenary.
