FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The Indiana Tech men's soccer team kicked off their 2024 season on a scorching Tuesday night at Warrior Athletic Field in a top 20 showdown as the #9 ranked Warriors hosted the #17 ranked Indiana Wesleyan University Wildcats.
 
The Wildcats came into this one with a 2-0-0 record, scoring 20 goals over their two previous contests, while the Warriors would head into their season opener with big goals and a fresh new look this season. First year manager, Keelan Barker, his staff, and a roster with 14 new additions to the squad would get their first glimpse of official action with the Orange & Black. The action would come thick and fast as the high scoring Wildcats would score the first goal of the game in just the seventh minute. Shortly after, in the 25^th minute, Indiana Wesleyan would add a second goal to take a 2-0 lead on the Warriors. After that though, Tech would settle in and start to find a rhythm. Substitute Emerson Nieto would find a pass in behind the Wildcat defense to Saladin Lekhal that Lekhal would touch, and finish left footed into the bottom right corner to bring the Warriors back within one in the 29^th minute of the game. Moments before halftime, in the 41^st minute, Tech would find an equalizer following a cross into the box that was headed back across the six-yard box by Douglas Appiah Kubi and headed home by junior transfer Liam Arthur to tie the game at two, where it would remain heading into halftime.
 
However, all the Warrior momentum built over the final 20 minutes of the first half would disappear, when they were shown a red card just two minutes into the second half. Tech would have to completely change strategies going down to ten men and were forced to sit back and defend the majority of the second half. With few chances by either side in the half, it seemed the game was headed for a draw, but the Wildcats had other plans. Indiana Wesleyan would earn a corner kick in the 89^th minute and after the initial ball in was headed off the crossbar, the rebound fell right to another Wildcat attacker that headed the ball into the net for the game winning goal, stunning the Warriors in the process, as Indiana Wesleyan would steal the 3-2 win in the final minute. Tech goalkeeper, David Martinez, would finish the game with three saves in the loss.
 
Tech drops to 0-1-0 to start the season and will look to rebound in a road game against Mount Vernon Nazarene University in Mount Vernon, Ohio on Saturday, August 31^st at 4pm.