Spartan's and Titan's play to a Tie

AURORA, Ill. October 7, 2007 - The Aurora University Spartans men’s soccer non-conference match-up Sunday afternoon ended in a 1-1 tie against the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. The Spartans, (7-2-3; 4-0-1 NAC) showed their resiliency on a very hot day at AU Field.

Wisconsin-Oshkosh (10-1-1) entered the game with a seven game winning streak and had outscored their opponents 33-5 on the season.

The first half saw the Spartan’s mainly in their own territory while the Titans of Wisconsin-Oshkosh were able to get 11 shots off, five of which were on goal, while AU was able to get just one shot on goal in the half. Fortunately for the Spartans, none of these shots found the back of the net.

The scoring started in the second half of play when the Titan’s sophomore forward Greg Jones scored in the 56th minute off an assist by sophomore midfielder Paul Beach.

Twelve minutes later the Spartan’s were able to tie the score at one apiece when a beautiful pass by junior defender Brian Barnett found senior forward Danny May in the open as he shot the ball passed the Titan’s diving senior goalkeeper Derek Christiansen.

At the end of two full halves the score was even at 1-1. In the first overtime, each team was able to get a shot on goal, both of which were defended by opposing goalkeepers.

The second overtime saw three shots on goal by the Titan’s and Spartan freshman goalkeeper Matt Ness saved all three of these shots. Ness had 11 saves on the day, while Oshkosh’s Christiansen had five.

When the game was all over, seven yellow cards had been issued on the steamy afternoon, five of the yellow cards were on University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and two on Aurora University.

The Spartan’s next match-up comes on Thursday, October 11 against the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in Whitewater, WI at 3:00 p.m.