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Upper Iowa University Athletics

Schedule

Official Athletics Site of the Upper Iowa Peacocks
Upper Iowa Peacocks
Frider Blunck vs Northwood
Emma Fellows
4
Winner Upper Iowa UIU (9-6-1, 6-6-1)
2
Northern Mich. NMU (4-9-3, 4-7-2)
Winner
Upper Iowa UIU
(9-6-1, 6-6-1)
4
Final
2
Northern Mich. NMU
(4-9-3, 4-7-2)
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Upper Iowa UIU 0 4 4
Northern Mich. NMU 2 0 2

Game Recap: Men's Soccer | | Evan Brinnon, Sports Communication GA

Peacocks Flip Script in Second Half With Four Unanswered Goals

The Upper Iowa men's soccer team completed a comeback in a match that will go down as a tale of two halves. UIU went down by two goals late in the first half before scoring four unanswered goals in the second period to claim a 4-2 win over Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Mich. The Peacocks improve to 9-6-1 (6-6-1 GLIAC) on the season, while the Wildcats fall to 4-9-3 (4-7-2 GLIAC).

The Upper Iowa men's soccer team completed a comeback in a match that will go down as a tale of two halves. UIU went down by two goals late in the first half before scoring four unanswered goals in the second period to claim a 4-2 win over Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Mich. The Peacocks improve to 9-6-1 (6-6-1 GLIAC) on the season, while the Wildcats fall to 4-9-3 (4-7-2 GLIAC). 

The Peacocks came out with an aggressive offensive attack that took the first five shots of the match. Tate Lofdahl opened the shooting with a shot on goal at the 4:59 mark, but the NMU goalkeeper was able to save shots on goal from Angel Tapia, Carson Cajuste, and two from Lofdahl as the Wildcat defense kept the Peacocks from converting through the first 20 minutes of action.

NMU's first shot of the game came at the 34:33 mark and was put on goal, but Osvaldo Alonzo secured the save for UIU. Cain Smith followed that attempt with a shot on goal of his own for the Peacocks in the 37th minute, but NMU made a save yet again. The Wildcats turned up their pressure after taking their first shot, and their second shot found the back of the net at the 37:40 mark to give NMU a 1-0 lead.

Italo Martins Soares took a shot just 20 seconds later as the Peacocks attacked off the reset, but the attempt soared high. The Wildcats maintained their momentum and earned a corner kick in the 40th minute, and NMU converted a goal at the 41:18 mark to double their lead to 2-0. The Wildcats earned another corner kick at the 44:12 mark, but the half ended with UIU facing a 2-0 deficit.

In the second half, the Peacocks looked to turn things around quickly. Upper Iowa got on the board at the 49:55 mark thanks to a goal from Frider Blunck, and Blunck helped UIU knot the score at 2-2 quickly thereafter with an assist to Marcus DeLeon on a tying goal at the 51:27 mark. The Wildcats took the next six shots of the half over a five-minute stretch as their first attempt came in the 56th minute, but Alonzo saved the two on-target attempts, and the UIU defense held firm to maintain the tie.

The next shot of the match came from the foot of Blunck, and the Peacock scored his second goal of the match to put Upper Iowa ahead 3-2 at the 64:58 mark thanks to an assist from Lofdahl. The teams each traded pairs of off-target shots after the go-ahead goal, and the next shot on goal did not come until the 89:09 mark when Smith doubled the UIU lead and put the icing on top of their 4-2 comeback win.

PEACOCKS OF THE GAME... 
  • Frider Blunck scored twice on two shots as he converted UIU's first goal in the 50th minute and the go-ahead, game-winning goal in the 65th minute. Blunck also assisted on DeLeon's game-tying goal to finish with five points in his 69 minutes.
  • Marcus DeLeon tied the score at two goals apiece at the 51:27 mark after an assist from Blunck. The midfielder came off the bench and played 60 minutes while connecting on his lone shot.
  • Cain Smith iced the match with a goal in the 90th minute that put UIU up 4-2. The midfielder put both of his shots on goal and played the full 90 minutes for the Peacocks.
  • Tate Lofdahl tied for the match-high with four shots and two shots on goal. Lofdahl also dished out an assist to Blunck on the go-ahead goal.
  • Defenders Alan Dunlop, Paal Vistnes, Daniel Pranger, and Brady Drozdowski joined Smith in playing full time for Upper Iowa.
  • Goalkeeper Osvaldo Alonzo played full time and secured three saves.

STATS OF THE GAME...
  • The Peacocks out-shot the Wildcats by a 7-3 margin in the first half that included a 5-3 advantage in shots on goal, but NMU converted two of their attempts and secured saves on all five of UIU's on-target shots.
  • The Wildcats out-shot the Peacocks 8-6 in the second half, but Upper Iowa converted all four of their shots on goal while Northern Michigan saw their two on-target shots get saved.
  • NMU earned a 2-1 advantage in corner kicks in the first half, but the teams finished with two corners apiece after UIU earned one in the second period while allowing none.

COACH'S QUOTES... "We didn't make it easy for ourselves, but we never doubt this team's character when needed. We had some good play in the first half, but we just weren't able to dominate like we wanted and gave away two goals. The second half was what we know we can do. We pressed a little higher and won more of the individual battles that we lost in that first half.  The boy's effort and intensity returned, and that opened up more chances for us. We talk a lot about having to execute, and we did that in the second half. I'm delighted for the squad tonight as we should now have done enough to get into the conference tournament. That is a massive turnaround for us, and the credit for that lies with the whole squad." - Head Coach, Willie McGowan

UP NEXT... The Peacocks will conclude their 2021 campaign against St. Cloud State University at home in Fayette, Iowa on Thursday, Nov. 4 at 2 p.m. on Pattison Field.
 
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