Men’s Soccer Earns 2-0 Senior Day Win Over Aquinas

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DETROIT – Marygrove men’s soccer continued their recent tear through the WHAC Saturday (Oct. 18) with a 2-0 shutout victory on Senior Day over the visiting Saints of Aquinas College. The shutout win was the first of its kind this season as sophomore keeper Ryan Plonka (St. Clair Shores, Mich./Macomb CC) and the defense stymied the Saints (8-6-1, 2-4-1 WHAC) attack, helping the Mustangs shoot out to their best start in WHAC play since joining the conference in 2012.

The Mustangs’ lone senior, Alex Cabildo (Westland, Mich./Schoolcraft College), made Saturday’s Senior Day count by sending home a 23rd minute goal to get the scoring started in the conference win. The first half strike – the second of Cabildo’s career – would go down as the senior’s first game-winning goal as the Mustangs back line proved to be too much for the Saints the rest of the way.

Cabildo’s 23rd minute tally came off of a free kick from 20 yards out as the senior rang the set-piece try off the post and in for his second goal of the season. The goal marked the only scoring play of the opening 45 minutes as the senior put his team up at the half, 1-0.

The Mustangs owned the first half, outshooting the Saints 9-2 overall and 4-1 on target. Both the Mustangs and Saints were even in corner kicks at two apiece through 45 minutes.

Second half action saw the Mustangs control possession once again as the midfield made it tough for the Saints to setup an attack over the game’s final 45 minutes. Junior forward Abdoulie Jallow (Bansang, The Gambia/Rust College) continued his stellar week by finding the feet of freshman Mohamed Alkhulaidi (Sana’a, Yemen/Michigan-Dearborn), giving the Mustangs an insurance goal in the 84th minute. Alkhulaidi tapped home a well-played cross from Jallow for his second goal of the season to secure the Mustangs 2-0 conference victory.

For Jallow, the assist lifted his weekly points total to eight after the junior posted an impressive seven points (3G, 1A) in Wednesday’s 5-2 victory over Indiana Tech.

Despite only seeing a few shots on the day, Plonka came up big for the Mustangs to earn his sixth win in net this season. In the 63rd minute, Plonka turned away a would-be goal with a diving save to his left on the Saints’ Justin Reamon attempt from inside the box. The sophomore keeper got a glove on the quick strike, sending it off the post and out to lock down his first shutout at the collegiate level.

The Mustangs outshot the Saints 19-5, including an 8-2 advantage in shots on target to earn their fifth WHAC win of the season. The win lifted the team’s WHAC points total to 15, three behind Northwestern Ohio for first place in the conference. A home playoff game, one of the team’s goals at the beginning of the season, became an even greater possibility after Saturday’s win as the Mustangs pushed their cushion to eight points over the conference’s fifth-place team.

The Mustangs will travel to Siena Heights Wednesday (Oct. 22) for a night game under the lights at 7 p.m. The host Saints will provide live video coverage of Wednesday’s WHAC tilt here.

   

MEN’S SOCCER CONTACT: Tim Johnston | [email protected] /* */ | @tjohnston56
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