FAYETTE, Iowa - Upper Iowa men's soccer (2-3, 1-1 GLVC) upsets No. 23 Lewis (2-1-3, 1-1 GLVC) at home in the team's first shutout of the season. Abraham Navarro scored his first career goal during the 28th minute of the game.
Navarro's goal came off a throw-in from Reilly Moore. Moore hurled the ball into a trio of Peacocks positioned right in front of the goal. The ball bounced right off Navarro's head onto the ground and right over the fingertips of the goalkeeper into the top left corner of the goal.
Both clubs battled back and forth early, with each team trading shots on each other's goal. UIU and the Flyers traded fouls throughout the first half. Seventeen fouls came from the first half alone.
The second half also started as a physical one, with the Peacocks' Gerado Romo and the Flyers' Jaden Jaime trading fouls within the first few minutes of the half. Ten minutes later, UIU's Alejandro Sanchez and Lewis's Jael Sanchez each received a yellow card..
Upper Iowa's stifling defense was the story of the second half. Timur Nagy was the energizer the defense needed, while Noah Nymark-Pedersen had two crucial saves back-to-back late in the period. His first save came off a ball aimed towards the bottom right, and the second was from a ball aimed towards the bottom center.
Navarro sent Alejandro Sanchez a beautiful pass in the game's final minutes that set him up one-on-one with the goalkeeper. Sanchez could not convert on the pass and sent it a little to the left of the goal.
Upper Iowa still held onto the lead and the shutout the rest of the way to get the win. This marked the program's first ranked win since Oct. 20, 2023, against No. 7 UIndy.
Navarro netted the way for the Peacocks with a goal and two shots on the evening. Sanchez also had two shots, while Dexter Garrett, Moore, Julian Mesen and Jeremiah Goko had each one shot. Moore recorded the only assist in the game.
Nymark-Pedersen shut down the Flyers offense by having five saves and allowing zero goals.
UIU was outshot in the game, 11-9. The Peacocks had more total fouls than Lewis, 19-13. Both teams had five corner kicks, with all UIU's coming in the first half.
Upper Iowa plays Quincy (Ill.) (4-1-1, 2-1 GLVC) on Friday, Sept. 26, at 7:30 p.m. and Truman State (Mo.) (1-3-1, 0-3 GLVC) on Sunday, Sept. 28.
