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Wright State University Athletics

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Raiders win exciting match at Alumni Field Thursday evening
1
Milwaukee MKE (9-7-3, 3-4-1 HL)
1
Wright State WSUM (13-2-3, 6-1-1 HL)
Milwaukee MKE
(9-7-3, 3-4-1 HL)
1
Final
1
Wright State WSUM
(13-2-3, 6-1-1 HL)
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 OT 1 OT 2 OT 3 F
Milwaukee MKE 0 1 0 0 0 1
Wright State WSUM 1 0 0 0 0 1

Game Recap: Men's Soccer | | AJ Schraffenberger

#18 @WSU_Mens_Soccer Advances to Horizon League Championship with Penalty Kick Victory

The 18th ranked Wright State men's soccer team was in action in the first of two semifinals Thursday hosted at Alumni Field. Playing as the number one seed based on their regular season Horizon League championship, the Raiders hosted the sixth-seeded Milwaukee Panthers, tying 1-1 before winning 4-3 on penalty kicks.

The Raiders will play UIC for the Horizon League Championship and a trip to the NCAA Tournament Saturday at 6 pm.
 
First Half
The Raiders opened the match with one thought in mind, possessional dominance. The green and gold did just that for the entirety of the first frame, as they jumped out to a 6-1 shot advantage, including the only two on goal for either side. After several quality chances throughout the first 30 minutes, the Raiders finally broke the scoreless tie as a Jackson Dietrich pass left Deri Corfe alone in front of the Milwaukee keeper Ryan Berger, and Corfe made no mistakes tucking the ball to the bottom right corner of the net to give Wright State a 1-0 lead. WSU continued to own the majority of possession for the remainder of the first half, and that afforded them the luxury of taking a one goal advantage into the locker room.
 
Second Half
While the Raiders continued to dominate the lion's share of possession early in the second half, the Panthers got a breakthrough as a Jackson Dryden pass sent leading goal scorer Evan Conway into the 18 yard box, and he slotted a shot into the bottom left corner of the net to knot the match at one. A Panthers shot in the 70th minute from outside the 18 yard box caused an anxious moment, but Joel Sundell made an outstanding sliding save to keep the match level for the time being. After the 70th minute chance from Milwaukee, there was little offensive action in the remaining 20 minutes of regulation, and the match would need overtime to settle the score.
 
Overtime
In the first period of overtime, the Panthers controlled the majority of possession, contrary to the majority of regulation. Joel Sundell was forced to make an outstanding save in the waning moments of the first overtime period but was equal to the task and the match was sent to a second sudden victory overtime period.
 
Second Overtime
The second period of extra time yielded little in the way of offensive production from either side, besides a very quality chance off the foot of a Milwaukee Panther, but the ball floated over the crossbar. 110 minutes of soccer was not enough to decide the match, so a penalty kick shootout would decide who moved on to the Horizon League championship game
 
Shootout
The shootout was a battle between Horizon League Goalkeeper of the Year Joel Sundell, and Milwaukee backup keeper Ryan Berger who was forced into action after a 17th minute injury to starting keeper Freddy Lorenzen. After a save of Milwaukee's first penalty attempt from Joel Sundell, Deri Corfe gave the Raiders a 1-0 advantage in the shootout. Milwaukee's second attempt went off the bar and out, and Stefan Rokvic made no mistake in his attempt to give Wright State the firm advantage. After Harvey Slade made the third penalty attempt and Dan Bent missed just high, the Raiders were a make or a Milwaukee miss away from moving on to the championship match. Jackson Dietrich stepped up to the spot with the pressure on, and buried the penalty kick to send Alumni Field into pandemonium, and the Raiders on to the Championship on Saturday.
 
Up Next
The Raiders will host UIC Saturday at 6 pm at Alumni Field for the championship.  The Flames also won in a shootout Thursday night over IUPUI after the game ended 1-1.  It will be the second time in three years that the teams have met at WSU for the title and an NCAA Tournament bid. The game can be seen on ESPN+.
 
 
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