By Emily Leclair

Sept. 30, 2015

Playing three games in four days, the UW-Whitewater men’s soccer team tied the best school record going 8-0 with a win over St. Norbert, lost to Concordia-Wisconsin less than a minute into overtime and came back to win the Viking-Warhawk Cup against Augustana.

“We knew we had to come out and make a statement,” senior Jordan Wilkins said. “We can’t lose two, especially two in a row at home, so everyone was all fired up.”

The ’Hawks are ranked fifth in the nation in the latest National Soccer Coaches Association of America Top 25 poll.

Junior Justin Stanko scored in the go-ahead goal with less than a minute left to play in a 2-1 win over St. Norbert on Sept. 22.

The ‘Hawks started the game strong when Wilkins sent a pass to freshman Taylor Ortiz, who headed it in to give the ’Hawks an early lead, 1-0.

Six minutes into the second half, St. Norbert tied the game with a shot from the right side of the field, but UW-W’s Ortiz attempted to make the game-winning goal with 15 minutes left to play and was denied by St. Norbert’s defense.

Sophomore Kyle Clancy sent the ball to Wilkins, who put his head on the ball with the result finding the crossbar.

With less than a minute remaining, UW-W earned a corner kick when Clancy sent it toward the net where Stanko scored for the go-ahead goal.

The ’Hawks had a chance to make school history on Sept. 23. The last UW-W men’s soccer team to go 8-0 was in 2013.

“Yeah, there was a lot of extra pressure,” Wilkins said. “We talked about it a lot, the coaches all brought it up and talked about how we wanted to be a part of history and put a stamp on our season.”

Concordia and UW-W battled evenly throughout the first and second half of the game, sending the game into overtime with a tie, 1-1.

Fifty-two seconds into overtime, the Falcons took a shot that bounced off the post and into the net to give Concordia the 2-1win, and ending UW-W’s chance at setting a school record.

“We had a team meeting the next day, and I talked about how we have to remember who we are and what we’ve done to get us this far so far,” head coach Tony Guinn said. “How we kind of just went away from what we’re good at and we have to go back to what we’re good at.”

The ’Hawks came back to beat Augustana College 5-1, scoring five goals in the first half in the Viking-Warhawk Cup for the second year in a row.

“We just went back to what we do well and, as a result, we had a five goal lead at half time,” Guinn said. “Sometimes if you learn from a loss it can be a very positive thing.”

Senior Sam Novak scored the first goal for UW-W four minutes into the first half.

Neither team scored until freshman Alex Whiteman took a pass from sophomore Dylan Hottsmith to send the ball into the back of the net.

Four and a half minutes later, Whiteman scored again off a double-assist from Clancy and Novak.

Ortiz added another goal off a pass from Wilkins to increase the lead 4-0.

Augustana added its first and only goal in the 57th minute for the final score 5-1.

Twenty-seven players saw the field for UW-W, including both goalkeepers senior Alex Buchman and sophomore Chris Lucatorto.

The ’Hawks will be on the road on Sept. 30 against Loras College (Iowa) and Oct. 1 against North Park University (Illinois).