Oilers Dominate in Home Opener Against Purdue Northwest

Box Score

Findlay, Ohio – The University of Findlay men's soccer team picked up a convincing victory in their home-opener against Purdue Northwest, who plays in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) on Saturday, Sep. 3. The Oilers won the match 4-1 to improve to 2-1 on the season while the Pride fall to 0-2-2.

Findlay controlled the pace early on in what ended up being a somewhat chippy match between the two in-region opponents. Just over 13 minutes into the contest, sophomore Maciej Gaszynski found senior David Hug who put the ball in the back of the net to give Findlay a 1-0 lead.

Eight minutes later, the Pride struck back, tying the game at 1-1, but before the bench could finish celebrating, the Oilers had gone the other way and, within 12 seconds, scored another goal to take a 2-1. It was again Hug who scored with the right foot off a pass from Gaszynski.

19 minutes into the second half, after some hard fouls and yellow cards started to turn up the intensity, junior Nick McCracken, an all-region pick last season, picked up his first goal of the year which was set up by a perfect cross from sophomore Christian Palushaj.

The Oilers continued to put pressure on the Pride, whose frustration boiled over, ultimately leading to four yellow cards and a red card.

Adding to the frustration for Purdue Northwest, Findlay found themselves with less than ten seconds left, and played to the final horn. With one second on the clock, McCracken returned the favor, sending a pass towards Palushaj who scored to end the game with a score of 4-1 in favor of the home team.

Hug finished with two goals on four shots in the game. Both goals being assisted by Gaszynski who also had a shot to his credit.

McCracken finished with three shots, two of which were shots on goal. He had one goal and one assist.

As a team, the Oilers tallied 15 shots to just eight for Purdue Northwest.

Picking up the win in the net for Findlay was senior Andrew Boulton who had three saves in 90 minutes of action.

Findlay will be back on the pitch on Thursday, Sep. 8 when they head to Malone to take on the Pioneers.