DAYTON – A pair of first half goals lifted the Wright State men's soccer team to a 2-1 home victory over Purdue Fort Wayne Saturday night as the Raiders remained atop the Horizon League standings.
With a little over three weeks remaining in the regular season, Wright State (4-3-4, 4-0-2 Horizon) now has 14 League points, one ahead of second-place Cleveland State who also won Saturday. The Raiders play at Cleveland State on October 29 and two of Wright State's three remaining Horizon League matches will come on the road.
Saturday night, the Raiders got on the board early in the 23rd minute thanks to
Reece Allbaugh's third goal of the season off an assist from
Nico Likulia that capped off pressure from the Raiders that began when
Joe Kouadio's shot beat the Purdue Fort Wayne keeper Adam Hunt but hit the post. In the scramble for the ball, Likulia battled for possession right by the goal line and flicked the ball to Allbaugh, who buried the goal past the outstretched Hunt and a pair of defenders.
Wright State added to the advantage just before the half as
Sandro Branquinho tallied his first goal of the season off a similar scramble in the 40th minute. Allbaugh's initial crossing pass was punched away by Hunt, who subsequently blocked a putback attempt from
Cole Werthmuller, who corralled the ball and regained possession before dancing around several Purdue Fort Wayne defenders and finding Branquinho open in front of the net for the goal.
The Raiders finished with an 18-12 overall shot advantage, including a 12-5 mark in the first 45 minutes, while Wright State put 10 attempts on goal to Purdue Fort Wayne's four total. The visitors increased the offensive pressure in the second half, tallying their lone goal in the 57th minute on Luke Benford's score.
Wright State goalkeeper
Sebastian Jimenez was only called on to make three saves, but he saw a choppy game in front of him with 37 combined fouls called and 10 total yellow cards handed out, including five against the Raiders.
Allbaugh finished with seven of the Raiders' 18 shots, three of which were on frame, while Likulia had four total shots and also had three on target to lead the Wright State attack. Seth Mahlmeister came off the bench and recorded a team-high four shots for Purdue Fort Wayne.
Wright State is back in action next Saturday as the Raiders travel to take on Oakland in an afternoon matchup. Oakland entered Saturday in third place in the HL standings with seven points. The Raiders and Golden Grizzlies will get underway at 1 p.m. next weekend in Michigan with the match expected to be streamed on ESPN+.
