NEWARK, Del. - - With three Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference matches remaining, the Wilmington University men's soccer team needed an outcome on Tuesday at the WU Athletics Complex and the Wildcats responded with a 3-0 victory over Chestnut Hill to stay in the CACC Tournament hunt.
With the victory, the Wildcats (8-7, 4-5 CACC) moved above .500 for the first time all season and now have 12 points in the CACC standings, putting them back into the middle of the pack. Chestnut Hill (5-10-1, 3-6 CACC) lost for the fourth straight match, staying in 10th place in the CACC standings.
Wilmington was all over the Griffins in the first half, tallying 11 shots and three corners in the opening 45 minutes while holding the visitors without a shot.
Sophomore Musa Wiah had a chance to put the Wildcats on the board first in the eighth minute, beating the Chestnut Hill goalkeeper as he came off his line, but the Griffins' defense came to the rescue, clearing the ball before it got to the goal line.
After six shots and a pair of corner kicks, the Wildcats got on the board following one of Chestnut Hills' seven fouls in the first half. Getting fouled from behind, freshman Lance Berry converted his own foul against into his fourth goal of the season. From the left side of the "D" atop the 18-yard box, Berry bent a ball over the wall and into the upper left hand corner of the net 29:48 into the match for the 1-0 lead.
The play began to pick up after the halftime break, as did the physicality of the match.
Otis Williams scored for the second match in a row for the Wildcats, this one coming off a corner kick from Kresimir Nurnberger. The senior captain played the corner to the near post, putting it right to the head of Williams who redirected the ball past Griffin goalkeeper Michael Goldstein to the near post in the 65th minute. The goal ties Williams with Berry and Pedro Moreira for the team lead in goals with four on the season. The assist was Nurnberger's team leading fifth of the year.
Following a total of five cards in the second half, one of which was a second yellow to a Chestnut Hill player, forcing a red card and an ejection, the Wildcats put the match away with its third goal of the match.
Now playing with 10 men, the Griffins were unable to stop a charging Reafe Anderson as he forced his way into the penalty box. Anderson found his way to the left side of the six-yard box and put a left-footed shot towards the net. As the ball was heading off the mark, Zach Hinte found himself with the ball and a wide open net, as he slotted it home for the 3-0 lead. With 12:25 remaining in the match.
Wilmington outshot the Griffins 20-3 for the match, and did not allow the visitors a corner for the match, gaining a 3-0 advantage during the 90 minutes as well.
Spyros Stergiotis moved to 6-2 in goal on the year, needing to make one save for his second complete shutout of the season, third overall. Chestnut Hill's Goldstein made five saves in goal in the loss.
The Wildcats continue their late season push up the CACC standings with another pivotal conference match on Thursday. The Wildcats host Holy Family at the WU Athletics Complex. The Tigers defeated Concordia on Saturday and is directly in front of Wilmington in the standings with 13 points. The match will begin at 3:30 p.m.
