NEWARK, Del. - - A first half goal held true for the Wilmington University men's soccer team as the Wildcats snapped a three-game losing streak with a 1-0 victory over West Chester on Tuesday afternoon at the WU Athletics Complex.
Coming off the bench, Zach Hinte scored his first goal of the season for Wilmington (3-6 overall) as goalkeeper Spyros Stergiotis and the defense held on for the shutout victory over West Chester (2-3-2 overall).
Controlling most of the first half, the Wildcats outshot the Golden Rams, 6-3, and forced West Chester goalkeeper Kevin Marron to make two saves in the first 45 minutes.
One of the six shots found the back of the net for the home team, set up by senior captain Kresimir Nurnberger. After getting into the penalty box by juking a pair of West Chester defenders, Nurnberger laid off a perfect pass towards the penalty spot, right to the foot of Hinte who one-timed it home past an out of position Marron. Hinte's first goal of the season came with 6:22 remaining in the first half.
The second half was more back and forth, as West Chester put the pressure on attempting to tie the match. In the second 45 minutes, West Chester outshot the Wildcats, 4-3, and took three corners to Wilmington's zero.
Stergiotis kept the Golden Rams off the board with a scrambling, sprawling save nearly four minutes into the second half, saving the game for Wilmington. Racing out to clear a ball, Stergiotis' clear bounced right to West Chester's Alex Baulak who promptly put the ball on frame. Stergiotis raced back into the box and made a diving safe in the top left corner of the box, coming out of nowhere to knock it out of bounce for a corner kick.
The Wildcats held on from there, capturing their second shutout of the season. The win was the first against West Chester since a 3-0 win in 2009, and only the second win against the Golden Rams in seven tries since 2004.
Musa Wiah led all Wildcats with four shots on goal, while Wiah, Tommy Quaranta, Otis Williams and Hinte all contributed two shots each. Stergiotis made four saves in the win.
Wilmington returns to Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference action on Saturday, as they square off against Nyack at the WU Athletics Complex. Saturday will bring more meaning to the match in two ways, as the Wildcats were knocked out of the CACC Tournament by the Warriors last season, and the Wilmington University soccer teams will wear pink uniforms for their annual Breast Cancer Awareness game. The match is slated to start after the women's game at 2:30 p.m.
