November 3, 2015
By Marty Carlino
Both the men’s and women’s soccer teams at Dominican have closed out their regular season schedule. The women’s team defeated the Benedictine University Eagles by a score of 2-1.
The Stars jumped on the Eagles early in the match, commencing the scoring with an opening goal in the seventh minute. Kelli Iovino beat Benedictine’s keeper for her 18th goal of the season.
Benedictine came back to tie the match later in the 1st half and it remained tied until late in the second half. Iovino broke the deadlock, scoring her 19th goal of the season. The Stars hung on to beat the Eagles. Iovino finished the season 2nd in the NACC, completing her season with 19 total goals.
The women’s team finished their regular season, second in the NACC conference standings behind Aurora University. The team will begin play in the NACC conference tournament Wednesday, Nov. 4, facing the highest remaining seed from the weekend matches.
The men’s team dropped their season finale, which was also against Benedictine University by a final score of 1-0. Benedictine scored early on in the match and the Stars were unable to overcome the deficit. The Stars did outshoot the Eagles 10-6 in the match, however they were able to beat Benedictine’s keeper.
The loss placed the Stars as the fourth-seed in the NACC conference and earned them a rematch against the fifth-seeded Eagles in the opening round of the conference tournament.
The Stars opened the scoring in the first half of their tournament match against the Eagles on the cold, rainy fall day at West Campus Field. Sophomore Jonathan Arzeta chipped a shot into the corner of the goal past Benedictine’s diving keeper. Freshman Iven Hernandez assisted the goal.
Prior to the goal, Junior Alex Rohder made a key defensive play for the Stars when he blocked an opposing players shot that had broke through the Stars midfield defense.
Benedictine came out strong to start the second half and tied the game 10 minutes into the half. Benedictine’s Gio Ovalle struck a shot into the upper corner of the goal to even the match at 1-1.
The Eagles continued to push the pace, and less than 10 minutes later, Francisco Delgado scored a penalty kick that gave Benedictine a 2-1 lead.
Dominican generated a number of chances in the games closing minutes and ultimately scored in the 88th minute to even the match. Junior Alex Rohder picked the right time to net his first goal of the season as he tipped in the tying goal into the bottom left hand corner of the net.
After 90 minutes of intense, back-and-fourth play, the Stars and the Eagles headed to overtime. Both teams attempted to push the pace in order to generate that one scoring opportunity that might win the game. With only 18 seconds remaining in the first overtime, Dominican’s Jose Gomez headed in the game-winning goal that sent West Campus field into a frenzy.
The goal was Gomez’s first of his collegiate career and it couldn’t have come at a more opportune time. The Stars’ thrilling 3-2 victory advances them into the next round of the tournament where they will face Concordia University Wisconsin.
carlmart@my.dom.edu