HAMMOND, IN: The Texas Wesleyan University men's soccer team (1-0) kicked off the 2016 season with a 2-1 win at Purdue University Northwest (1-1-1) on Friday. The win was the 52nd of Head Coach
Tyler Powell's career moving him into a tie atop Texas Wesleyan's all-time wins list.
With his 52nd victory, Powell has matched Alex Alkhazsvilly's school record for coaching wins. Powell is beginning his sixth season and holds a record of 52-33-10 (.612). Alkhazsvilly totaled 52 wins with a winning percentage of .468 in six seasons with the Rams (1989-94).
Micah Day got the season started right. The junior transfer from Hill College needed all of 2:15 and an assist from
Brandom Garcia to find the net in his first game with the Rams.
Purdue's Alec Guarino levelled the match in the 10th minute with his fourth goal of the young season. For the next 35 minutes, the teams settled into a defensive battle and the game remained tied 1-1 at the half.
Both teams got only three shots off in the first half. The Rams worked two corner kick opportunities but battled an unfavorable 15-4 foul count.
The Rams struck quickly again in the second half.
Kian Hosseinpour (So. transfer from Davenport University) knocked in his first collegiate goal with an assist from
Brandon Head in the 54th minute.
That proved to be the game winner as
Marko Jovanovic (1-0) came up with five saves, all of them in the second half.
The Pride outshot the Rams 13-10 overall and 6-5 on goal. PNW also came up with six corner kicks in the second half, but could convert none. Both sides were shown four yellow cards while an aggressive Texas Wesleyan squad was whistled 25 times compared to just eight for Purdue.
Texas Wesleyan will return to action on Sunday, when they continue their road trip in Chicago, IL, with a contest against Roosevelt University. That game is scheduled for an 11:00 a.m. start.
Ramblings
- Powell is one of five current head coaches at Texas Wesleyan who hold the school record for coaching wins in their sport.
Mike Jeffcoat (Baseball),
Josh Gibbs (Women's Soccer),
Shannon Gower (Softball), and
Jasna Rather (Table Tennis) are the others.
- Texas Wesleyan is 14-13-1 all-time on opening day and 3-3 during Head Coach
Tyler Powell's tenure.
- Day's goal marked the second straight season in which the Rams have scored before their opponent. The Rams have scored first in four of Powell's six seasons and six of the last ten seasons.
-Brandon's Back! – After sitting out all of last year,
Brandon Head recorded a point in his first game back. Head was a 1st-team All-SAC selection after leading the team with 20 points on 9 goals and 2 assists in 2014.
