Men's Soccer drops heartbreaker in final seconds

Saturday, October 21

Dayton, OH

7 PM

Wright State University

3-7-4, 2-4-1

Detroit Mercy

4-7-3, 3-2-2

Team	1	2	Final F
Detroit Mercy	1	1	2
Wright St.	1	0	1

Photo by: Joseph Craven

10/21/2023 9:45:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

DAYTON – A handball in the box with five seconds remaining and the resulting penalty kick goal handed the Wright State men's soccer team a 2-1 loss on Saturday night at Alumni Field on Senior Night.

Wright State (3-7-4, 2-4-1 Horizon) gets back to action on Wednesday in its final non-conference matchup of the year with a trip to take on Duquesne. First touch is set for 7 p.m. and the match is expected to be streamed on ESPN+.

In Saturday's closing seconds, Detroit Mercy (4-7-3, 3-2-2 Horizon) sent a desperation ball towards the box from near midfield, bouncing off a couple of heads and bodies before finding the hand of a Raider defender just inside the box, forcing the handball call and awarding the penalty kick with five seconds to play.

Detroit Mercy's Guershom Sylvain took the PK, hesitating slightly to force Raider keeper Alessandro Malterer to pick a side before depositing the ball in the opposite corner for the game-winner.

All the other scoring came way back in the opening minutes of play, first when Detroit Mercy saw a couple of scoring opportunities bounce around in the box and the ball eventually come to the foot of Matthew Andres, who found the bottom right corner of the net for the early goal in the third minute of action. The Raiders responded quickly in the seventh minute as a niffy cross from Reece Allbaugh was sent across the box around seven Detroit Mercy defenders to find Cole Werthmuller, who connected on a shot in stride from the top of the box and tied the game with his goal into the lower left corner.

Detroit Mercy finished the match wit a 13-12 shot advantage, putting six shots on goal to the Raiders' four. Werthmuller led all players with five shots, while Roman Kedgley and Grant Murray each had a pair of shots for the Raiders. Sylvain paced the visitors with four shots. Wright State keeper Alessandro Malterer finished with four saves while Detroit Mercy's Quinn Tews had three saves.