INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – A first half goal from
Vance Sheffield (West Linn, Ore./La Salle Catholic College Prep) and a second half strike from
Tobias Crear (Carrollton, Texas/Creekview) help lift the Northern Illinois University men's soccer team to a 2-0 victory over Butler on Thursday (Aug. 20) at the Sellick Bowl.
The Huskies struck early in both halves as Sheffield opened the scoring in the eighth minute and Crear doubled the NIU advantage just four minutes after halftime.
Cayden Crawford (Plain City, Ohio/Ohio Connections Academy) was credited with four saves in the victory.
"Delighted with the result," said NIU head coach
Ryan Swan. "It was hot out there today, it is a tough place to play, a bouncy surface, but I thought the guys handled it. Both teams looked a little nervous at the start of the game but getting that early goal was huge for us, it settled us a bit. There is still a lot to work on but scoring goals early in both halves was really good."
Angulo nearly opened the scoring just a minute into the contest as his shot from just outside the area hit the outside of the post to the right of Butler goalkeeper Brooks Boersma.
In the eighth minute, Angulo's short cross found the head of Sheffield who nodded the ball past Boersma from just outside the six-yard box and into the back of the net. The goal was initially ruled offside but after a VAR check the goal was given as the Huskies took the early lead.
Just before the half-hour mark, a Huskie free kick found the head of
Osagie Omoregie (London, England) inside the six-yard box, but he wasn't able to redirect his header on target as it went high over the Butler goal.
Three minutes before the interval,
Noah Christian (Rockford, Mich./Rockford) combined with
Katai Mukuka (Lusaka, Zambia) on the edge of the box and a right-footed drive from the Zambian went wide as NIU took a 1-0 lead into halftime.
NIU (1-0) allowed just one shot in the opening 45 minutes.
The Huskies doubled their lead just four minutes after the break on a goal from Crear. NIU worked the ball down the left side before a clearing attempt from Butler pinballed into the path of Crear who smashed home a shot from eight yards past an oncoming Boersma to give the Huskies a 2-0 lead in the 49th minute.
Six minutes later, Sheffield got in behind the Butler defense but was just put off by a recovering Bulldog defender as his shot sailed wide.
Butler's best chance came in the 57th minute as the Bulldogs had the ball inside the box to the left of Crawford and cut the ball back to Brendan Cunningham who whistled a shot high from close range.
"One of the challenges that we put out specifically to Luka (Vasic) and Tomasz (Slawek) was Amara (Kamara) was so dominant in the air last year, so those two were going to have to step up, that's the expectation for our center backs," said Swan. "I thought they were excellent in the air, strong in the challenge and Cayden (Crawford) dealt with everything he had to well, but he was protected very well by our defensive unit."
NIU will return to action on Sunday, Aug. 23, when the Huskies travel to Loyola Chicago. Kickoff against the Ramblers is scheduled for 1 p.m.
