FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The #6 ranked Indiana Tech men's soccer team hosted Dalton State College in their opener on Saturday evening in a big early season matchup of two national tournament caliber teams. The Warriors would come up short in an intense 1-2 defeat to the Roadrunners.
Dalton State struck quickly, scoring with their first chance of the game in the third minute on a cross to the back post. Both teams would create chances throughout the first half with twelve total shots, forcing two saves from each goalie. Tech would rack up four first half corner kicks, nearly scoring on a couple chances, but would trail 1-0 at the break. The Roadrunners would strike quickly again in the second half, scoring in the 49
th minute to make it 2-0. The two teams would go back and forth over the next 20 minutes of action as the Warriors pressed on to cut into the deficit, but neither would find a goal. In the 73
rd minute, Dalton State picked up a red card giving Tech some more momentum as the game started to swing back into the Warriors favor. At the 85
th minute, Tech would earn a penalty kick where
Aiki Sadaoka cleaned up the rebound after the initial shot was saved. Trailing by just one, Tech would desperately search for the second goal as the pressure was on Dalton State to hang on. In the final seconds, Tech would create a great chance on a counterattack to equalize, but the Dalton State defender saved the day for the Roadrunners with an outstretched leg to deflect the pass away and deny a goal as the Warriors fall 2-1. Both teams would record 12 shots in the game.
Fernando Cuevas led the Warriors with three attempts and one on target, while
Alan Fleischer made four saves in goal.
The Warriors move to 1-1 on the season and will play cross-town rivals, the University of Saint Francis, on Wednesday, August 26
th at 7:30pm in the PSMxONE Soccer Series at Ruoff Mortgage Stadium.
- TECH -
