Casey Castle and his University of Indianapolis (UIndy) Men's Soccer teammates made program history, earning its first-ever Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship with a 3-1 win over top-seeded Quincy at the Hawks' Legends Field.
The University of Indianapolis came into the tournament as the six-seed, and now hold the distinction as being the lowest seed in league tournament history to win the title. In addition, prior to this action, #3 Quincy led the nation in goals against average, having surrendered just eight goals on the year. The University of Indianapolis came in #10 on the same list, giving up a program-record 12 goals on the season before play. The loss was also the first of the season for Quincy.
"First half we came out strong and dominated the game," University of Indianapolis senior captain Max Rohda said. "We came into the second half and had to dig in defensively and really come together as a team. It's an amazing feeling making history at University of Indianapolis with this group of guys."
University of Indianapolis struck twice in the first half of play, both on corner kicks by Zak Mitiche. The first score of the match came off the head of Rohda, at the 21:54 mark. The University of Indianapolis captain took a corner from Mitiche to the far post, and headed it to the back of the net from about four yards out for his second goal of the year.
The University of Indianapolis went up 2-0 just seven minutes later, with Ngwese Ebangwese this time heading Mitiche's corner home, from just in front of the center of the goal. The score was Wahsay's sixth of the year.
After the halftime break, the host Quincy scored their lone goal, on Taylor Reis' fourth goal of the year. University of Indianapolis would seal the championship with a Jacob Meyer score in the 82nd minute, with Meyer settling a ball from Ebangwese and Daniel Wellmann, and sending it home from about 12 yards for his eighth goal of the year.
Quincy led the shots battle, 13-10, with Mitiche and Ebangwese each sending off a pair of shots in the match. Andrew Verhonik earned his 35th career win in the University of Indianapolis goal, taking the University of Indianapolis career mark in saves in the process. Verhonik, with his five saves versus Quincy, now has 217 career saves, besting the record of 214 set by University of Indianapolis alum Matt Spaulding.
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