The Northland men’s soccer team started off the 2011
campaign with a convincing win over a revitalized Great Lakes Christian College
side on Friday, riding four second half goals to secure the win.
Despite a disappointing exit from last year’s National
Tournament, the Northland soccer team has once again set the bar high for itself
this year hoping to follow in the Green Bay Packers footsteps and bring the
Championship back home to Wisconsin. They faced in their first game, however, a
new look at the Great Lakes squad that had expectations of their own. The game was
high energy and sloppy at the start, which is to be expected in the first match
of the year. Despite some good chances and striking the cross-bar twice, the Great
Lakes defense held true behind some solid goalkeeping from Doug Hagadone, who
finished the game with nine saves.
It was not until the
55th minute that sophomore forward Mark Romig finally broke the
deadlock with a clinical finish to the far post after a nice slotted pass from
strike partner and fellow sophomore Josh Conover. The Pioneers would double the
advantage just two minutes later as senior captain Daniel Doran once again put
himself in the right position and tucked home a nice ball from freshman center
midfielder Isaac Arco. From that point on, the pressure was constant on the
Great Lakes goal as Northland refused to let the ball out of the attacking
third. The score would remain 2-0, however, until the 78th minute as
Romig put away his second goal off a beautiful corner kick from Aarco. Last year’s
leading scorer, Josh Conover, would add his name to the score sheet five minutes
later to give the Pioneers their fourth and final goal. Head Coach Andrew Scott
had this to say: “Although we should’ve capitalized on more of our chances, I’m
extremely proud of the guys for a mature first win and for controlled
responses. I was very encouraged by our team unity and passion of play. Our
defense was cohesively solid, our midfield possessed with purpose and pace, and
our forwards willed the ball in. We praise God for the good outcome and look
forward to another good week of training and games.”
The Pioneers picked up where they left off last year by
again dominating possession and shots. Northland held a final advantage of 30-2
in shots and 10-1 in corners, while freshman goalkeeper Travis Kirkland
recorded a clean sheet in his first ever college game for the Pioneers making
one save. Northland improves to 1-0 on the young season and will next face
Lakeland College on Thursday, September 8, in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.