By Emily Leclair

Oct. 14, 2015

The 11th-ranked UW-Whitewater men’s soccer team heads into its last three games of the regular season after defeating Central College 1-0 and Simpson College 2-1 and improving to 13-2 for the season.

UW-W defense held Central to seven shots on Oct. 7.

“They’ve been really, really good all year long,” head coach Tony Guinn said. “Our goals against average is one per game and when you only give up less than a goal a game you can be successful in soccer and they’re a big reason why.”

This marks the fifth time in 14 games that the ’Hawks have held its opponent to a single digit shot total.

Senior Sam Novak scored the first and only goal of the game in the 14th minute off a pass from sophomore Kyle Clancy coming down the sideline.

The ’Hawks’ defense held Central to two shots in the first half, while the offense continued to put pressure on the Dutch. UW-W fired three shots in the last five minutes of the first half, but entered halftime with a 1-0 lead.

Freshman Deklan Corbett attempted to make the score 2-0 with a header at the goal in the 64th minute, but was blocked by Central’s goalie.

Sophomore Chris Lucatorto replaced senior Alex Buchman in the goal at the half, recording three saves for the ’Hawks. Buchman did not see the ball his first 45 minutes of the game.

UW-W honored its seniors on Oct. 12 for senior night and their last home game for the regular season.

“They’ve all been there the same length of time as me, so we came in basically as freshman together,” Guinn said. “So they’ve all been a big part of my life the last four years and mean a lot to me, and they’re wonderful kids.”

Guinn started all five seniors Jared Denu, Buchman, Novak, Wilkins and Kyle Ricely who played their last regular season home game of their careers.

“It feels kind of crazy that it went this fast,” Wilkins said. “It’s kind of sad too.”

Wilkins has learned a lot from his four years on the team.

“As a person, it has taught me you have to work hard for the things that you want, and a lot times you can’t do things on your own,” Wilkins said. “You have to work with other people to get a common goal achieved.”

Junior Justin Stanko scored the first goal of the game for the ’Hawks after the 8th minute off an assist from Wilkins.

Junior Jordan Kayser attempted to add another goal in the 16th minute, but was stopped by Simpson’s goalie.

The ’Hawks came back in the second half to fire four shots in the first eight minutes.

Stanko came back to score UW-W’s second goal of the game, and his fifth of the season off an assist by Clancy in the 54th minute.

Simpson scored with 24 seconds left on the clock, but the final score went to UW-W for a 2-1 win on senior night.

The ’Hawks will be on the road for the last three games of its regular season.

“We have to win out to make sure we get a spot in the tournament,” Wilkins said.  “Obviously we’d like to have them at home, but it’s not something that we can’t deal with.”