MOUNT PLEASANT – Michael Roberts (Sr.-St. Johns, Antigua) added to his Midwest Collegiate Conference-leading goal total with a pair of goals and Iowa Wesleyan College broke a short two-match losing streak with a 3-2 win over Rockford (Ill.) College on Tuesday in men’s soccer action at East Lake Park.
Roberts added two more goals to give him seven goals for the season, and Jesus Soto (So.-Rockton, Ill.) added his second goal of the year as the Tigers improved to 2-5 on the season and kept the Regents winless at 0-4. Roberts also took over the MCC lead in scoring, pushing his season total in points to 15.
The Tigers led for almost the entire match, taking the lead just 35 seconds into the match. Goalkeeper Troy Osborne (So.-Sydney, Australia) launched a punt deep into the Rockford defensive end, and Soto redirected the ball into the goal, giving Osborne an assist on the first goal of the match.
Rockford battled back to tie in the 11th minute when Sam Medina-Conchi scored, receiving an assist from former IWC Tiger Matt Nicholson, who attended Wesleyan and played for the Tigers in 2007. IWC quickly retook the lead in the 16th minute, though, when Roberts scored a sweet goal with some nifty passing as Levor Henry (Jr.-St. Johns, Antigua) and Mark Daughters (Jr.-Keokuk, Iowa) both received assists on the goal.
Roberts added his second goal of the match less than seven minutes later, scoring again at the 23:16 mark with an assist from defenseman Travis McRoberts (So.-Burlington, Iowa). The Tigers continued to control play the rest of the half and took the 3-1 lead into halftime, holding a 9-2 advantage in shots in the first half.
Play was more balanced in the second half, with much of the play taking place around midfield as the Regents attempted to push their offense up. Still, Rockford did not seriously threaten until converting a penalty kick in the 86th minute, as a foul in the box resulted in Nathan Sweet taking and converting the PK to make it 3-2. The Regents were unable to push across the tying goal, though, and Osborne picked up his second win of the season in goal without having to make a save in the match.
Wesleyan finished with an 18-5 advantage in shots, including an 11-2 lead in shots on goal. Goalkeeper Matt Zawadzki kept Rockford in the match by making eight saves, including several in one-on-one situations with Tiger attackers.
IWC next will take to the road to face Illinois Institute of Technology on Friday at 7 p.m. in Chicago.
For more information regarding the IWC soccer programs or any of the Tiger athletic teams, contact sports information director Adam Glatczak (319-385-6306 phone; 319-385-6384 FAX; aglatczak@iwc.edu e-mail) or log on to IWC's athletics web site at www.iwc.edu/athletics.
Box score IWC 3 Rockford 2
