Point Park University men’s soccer earned a strong result Wednesday with a 2-0 victory over NCAA Division II No. 7-ranked Ohio Valley University at Highmark Stadium. The Pioneers (5-1) scored both of their goals in the first half and held off the nationally ranked Fighting Scots (2-2) for their fourth win in a row.
It was a well-earned shutout with Ohio Valley putting up a big effort after falling behind. Point Park had the better part of the possession when the score was 0-0, and the Pioneers eventually broke through the scoreless game with Jonathan Roos’ tally at 22:15. Daan Stormink set up the play with a nice ball into the box. Along the 6-yard line, Alan Pinho Martins got a touch on it for the second assist before Roos knocked it in.
Mitchell Roell gave the Pioneers some breathing room on his breakaway goal at 28:34. He used his speed to beat the defenders down the left side, and he smashed the shot past goalkeeper Santiago Rojas.
Ohio Valley held a big advantage in shots of 27-7 for the game. Most of that offense came the final 60 minutes looking to cut into the lead. But the Fighting Scots were held off the scoreboard thanks to a combination of good defense and some bad luck.
Ohio Valley got 16 shots on goal. Thirteen were stopped by Point Park goalkeeper Jesse Haak, and three more were knocked away at the last moment by defenders backing up Haak. The back line of Yuki Takeda, Kakanou Fotie, Roos and Pinho Martins secured the shutout. Also in support of the that were defensive midfielders Camilo Rodriguez and Kay In’t Ven and defensive sub Ibrokhim Mirzakhonov.
In the first half, Takeda made a save on the goal line to keep the score 1-0. He also made a stop in the second half, and so did Roos. Haak, a 6-6 freshman, came up with big stops as well to keep the shutout alive.
During the course of the game, Ohio Valley hit two posts, a crossbar and had a goal called off due to offsides. The crossbar came on a penalty kick in the second half. A short time after that, OVU thought it had a goal, but one of the nine offsides violations was called against the Scots. Seven of those were after halftime as they tried to get numbers forward.
Point Park is off for the next 10 days until River States Conference play begins Sept. 28 versus IU East. The Pioneers host the Red Wolves with a 2:30 p.m. kickoff at Montour Junction Sports Complex in Coraopolis, Pa. The first game of the day features the Point Park women vs. IU East at 12 p.m.