(Brighton, MI) – The men's soccer team kicked off the spring portion of their schedule with an indoor matchup against the Wildcats from Indiana Wesleyan University. The Cardinals offense was firing on all cylinders despite their several month absence from competitive play as they took down the Wildcats 4-3 while maintaining a lead throughout the entire match.
Brett Kuhlman picked up where he left off in the fall by knocking in a great corner kick from Tanguy Flachez within the first minute of the game. Seven minutes later, Kuhlman netted a screamer from 20 yards out to beat the Wildcats' goalkeeper and give the Cardinals a 2-0 lead in the first 10 minutes of the game.
IWU's defense settled in for a few minutes before the Cardinals' captain Christian Margilaj made a great one between the Wildcats' defenders and goalkeeper while placing the perfect touch and spin on the ball to score the ball of the far post while standing on the baseline. Indiana Wesleyan's Philipp Basara would strike back with a goal of his own to get the Wildcats on the board prior to halftime.
Kyri Wixom got his first starting nod in net for the Cardinals and did not disappoint in his outing. Wixom had 8 saves in the 1st half while only allowing one goal before being relieved by two-time WHAC Defensive Player of the Week in this past fall, Ryan Webb. Webb would finish with 5 saves of his own at the completion of this match.
Boris Illic entered his name in the scoring column on a great upper-ninety shot from the top of the 18-yard box after a great lead pass from Jordan Whitt to give the Cardinals a commanding 4-1 lead. However, the Wildcats would not go down without a fight. Ten minutes later, Giuseppe Santacroce scored a goal that was just out of the reach of Webb. The Cardinals defense was able to contain the Wildcats for most of the second half until Malik Ibrahim made things interesting in the 75th minute with his goal to cut the Cardinals' lead down to one.
Despite outshooting the Cardinals 33-12, the Wildcats could not find another goal in their attempt to push this game to overtime as Concordia walked away with the hard-fought 4-3 win. This puts the Cardinals at 3-4 on the season between the fall and spring prior to resuming their conference schedule next week. Coach Erik's squad will travel to Pontiac, Michigan, to take on the Rochester and look to sweep the season series against the Warriors.
