CEDARVILLE, Ohio United Soccer Coaches Division II No. 10 Cedarville continued its historic start with a 3-0 shutout of Ashland.
The Yellow Jackets struck early and added two second-half tallies to earn their eighth win to improve to 8-0-3 overall and 6-0-1 G-MAC.
Michael Catanzarite opened the scoring in the ninth minute, capitalizing on a loose ball inside the box with a low finish into the left corner. It was his league-leading eighth goal.
The Jackets doubled their advantage in the 62nd minute when
Kale Howell headed in his first career goal off a long throw from
Kirk Wilson, with
Eddie Merck adding the secondary assist.
Matthew Leo capped the scoring in the 76th minute by finishing a layoff from
Jackson Baker inside the penalty area.
Goalkeeper
Eben Dewhurst anchored the back line with one save coupled with another save off the line by defender
Amari Everage.
Quotable: Head Coach Brett Faro
"Ashland is just a tough team. We knew going into it that it would be a big challenge regardless of where they're at in the standings. I thought they put us under a lot of pressure in the first half and we were fortunate to get into halftime up 1-0. I was really proud of the guys to just adapt, bend and not break, and find a way to get the ball in the back of the net. Our defense continues to be solid and so, we've got things to work on, but I thought it was just a gutsy performance from the guys today."
Five Facts:
- Cedarville extended its school-record unbeaten string to start the season to 11 games.
- The Yellow Jackets did not attempt a corner kick while the Eagles recorded eight.
- Dewhurst, who posted his sixth shutout, was the only Cedarville player to log all 90 minutes.
- Cedarville leveled the all-time series with Ashland at 7-7-1.
- The two teams meet again on November 1 in Ashland, Ohio.
