Men’s soccer starts clicking
Dominic Mudlaff, Sophomore, from Muskego, WI steals the soccer ball from the Alma player, at the Whitewater vs Alma soccer game, at Fiskum Field.
September 25, 2022
The UW-Whitewater men’s soccer team (5-3) defeated Alma College (Michigan) (2-5) by a score of 3-1 Saturday, Sept. 24 at Robert Fiskum Field. Whitewater opened the week on Wednesday with a 3-1 win over Loras College (Iowa) in the Hawk Cup trophy game.
The Warhawks opened the scoring at the 20:26 mark in the first half. Zeke Healy assisted Dominic Mudlaff for a goal, which gave Whitewater the lead. The score was the only goal of the first half.
The Warhawks dominated the ball in the first half, as they possessed the ball for a majority of the clock and were able to get seven shots compared to Alma’s single shot.
“That’s a positive thing [playing on the opponent’s end of the field]. We’ve won two games in a row and things are going pretty well right now, so I’m really happy to see that too,” head coach Tony Guinn said.
“In the first half we were very organized and it showed in our control of the game,” Warhawks goalkeeper Johnathan Fenton said.
The Warhawks got an insurance goal in the second half when Jalen Holley found Will Hamilton who was able to put the ball in the net, creating a 2-0 lead for the Warhawks with under 13 minutes remaining.
Alma answered with just under seven minutes left to play. Joe Rawlin converted on a penalty kick, bringing the margin back to one and keeping the pressure on.
“Obviously we shoot for no goals each game, I mean that’s kind of our team saying, at least for the keepers,” said Duncan Morgan, who entered the game to goal tend the second half. “We don’t want to get scored on but they happen and a penalty is not the worst way to get scored on. It’s fine, it’s tough but I still felt like we had a lot of control in the second half.”
With under three minutes to play Holley gained his second assist of the game and Cooper Ray knocked in another goal to make it 3-1 Whitewater.
The Warhawks were dominant throughout much of the game, as shown by the final count of 15 shots to just four shots for Alma. Thanks to their strong performance Guinn was able to substitute 14 players into the game, something that he values.
“I just thought it was a good overall team performance. We were able to get a lot of guys in the game, which is important to me because when we recruit them we tell them you gotta be ready to play, and we got everybody in the game,” Guinn said.
Whitewater’s victory was their second in a row, a streak they hope to extend when they play at Wartburg College Monday, Sept. 26. The Warhawks will then begin a five game homestand, which spans over two weeks, against Beloit College on Tuesday, Sept. 27.
