LIVONIA, Mich. - - The No. 15 Madonna men's soccer team made program history on Saturday, advancing to the NAIA Men's Soccer National Championship Sweet 16 with a 2-1 win over visiting Grandview at Charger Stadium. The win improves MU to 17-2 while GU ends its season at 15-6-1.
The Vikings came out aggressive in the opening 20 minutes before the Crusader offense got on track as Eric Kiebert (Essex, Ont.) had his shot just go high over the cross bar keeping the match 0-0.
Darren Martin of Grandview came off of his line almost outside of the 18-yard box to cut down an angle and the gamble almost backfired as the Crusaders had an open net but a GU defender came over and headed away a Jacob Rosiek (Oak Park, Mich.) shot to keep MU off the board.
MU got on the board in the 42nd minute when Otieno Victor (Kisumu Nyanza, Kenya) took on his defender one-on-one and beat his man to go in alone on the GU keeper. Darren Martin stopped Victor's initial shot but Mark Pikula (Dearborn, Mich.) was on the far side of the goal mouth to take the rebound and send his shot to the upper part of the net to give the home side a 1-0 lead.
Coming out of the halftime intermission, the Madonna lead increased to 2-0 on a quirky play. MU freshman Sean Nesbitt (Brighton, Mich.) took a throw in for the Crusaders on the far side of the field just inside the 18-yard line. Nesbitt's throw hit a GU defender and rolled in for the rookie's first career goal.
Rosiek had MU's next chance but his shot in the 75th minute hit the cross bar and went out of bounds. That play seemed to wake up the Vikings as they then started to carry the action again with their efforts paying off in the 84th minute.
The Crusaders were whistled for a foul just outside of the penalty area and on the ensuing free kick Lyall Menzies made MU pay for its miscue, sending his shot past Anthony DeMarco (Dearborn Heights, Mich.) to cut the Madonna lead to just a single goal at 2-1.
GU continued to press the play and had three more chances but DeMarco got help from his back line as Menzies had another shot late that was blocked out of the net by a MU defender to preserve the 2-1 win for Madonna.
For the match Grand View out shot Madonna 19-19 while MU held an 8-6 lead in shots on net. DeMarco made four saves compared to Martin who had to make five and each side was credited with a team save. The match was a physical one with 31 fouls being whistled and five cards being handed out.
The win - MU's first National Tournament victory in program history - sends the Crusaders to Fresno, Calf., and a Dec. 1 match with No. 2 Rio Grande. Rio Grande downed Bethel 2-1 in its opening round match on Saturday as well. Match time in Fresno on the first is set for 11:30 am Pacific time.
