Wright State University's men's soccer team went on the road to compete against the undefeated Xavier Musketeers but were unable to be the team to take them down.
On Tuesday, Sept. 22, the Raiders traveled to Corcoran Field in Cincinnati in hopes of taking down the #15 team in the NCAA, Xavier University (XU).
Kickoff began at 6:30 p.m., and shots were taken on goal three minutes in, along with three corner kicks back-to-back from Xavier. Building off their momentum, XU scored their first goal, making the score 1-0 early on.
Before the game went south, Wright State kept it to a one-point game, trying to make something happen, but overall they couldn't get any shots on net. The Musketeers then scored their second goal, which only began to build their confidence, and moments later the score was 3-0 before halftime.
Head coach for the Raiders, Alex Van der Sluijs, talks on the impact of the first goal.
“It was always going to be a tough game against one of the top teams in the country. Unfortunately, giving up an early goal gave them early momentum. It was hard to get that momentum swing back playing away against a team that doesn't give up many goals. We had to do a better job early in the game to keep it competitive, but we didn't.”
Van der Sluijs
The second half began and the game did not change as the score kept growing. XU was able to find the back of the net early in the half following it up with a back-to-back goal 21 seconds later, making the score 5-0.
WSU showed frustration on their faces as they continued to finish the half. However, the Musketeers were not finished as they finalized the score at 0-6.
Van der Sluijs talks on the main issues in the match.
“It was the little details that hurt us against Xavier and against a good opponent the margin for error is small. They capitalized on our mistakes and we didn't on theirs,” Van der Sluijs said.
The Raiders will return home at Alumni Field Saturday Sept. 26 as they take on the Northern Illinois Huskies in hopes to add another Horizon League win to the record.
