Men's Soccer 9/2/08 -- Augsburg 2, Minnesota-Morris 1
GAME BOXSCORE | AUGSBURG SEASON STATISTICS
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MINNEAPOLIS (9/2/08) -- David Scheller (FY, Maple Grove, Minn.) scored his first collegiate goal in the 78th minute, lifting Augsburg College to a 2-1 win over the University of Minnesota-Morris in a nonconference men's soccer game on Tuesday night at Augsburg's Edor Nelson Field.
Scheller eluded a defender and took a long pass from Ryan Sorensen (JR, Plymouth, Minn./Osseo HS) for the game-winning marker with 12:11 left in the contest for Augsburg, now 2-0-1 overall. Minnesota-Morris is now 2-1-0 on the season.
"Scheller came up huge in his first collegiate home game," said Augsburg head coach Greg Holker. "He said he was nervous when he came off in the first half, but that certainly didn't show in his quality. He did well to get behind Kelsey Duerr (JR, Spring Lake Park, Minn.) to net the game-winner."
#D.J. Wendell# (JR, Princeton, Minn./Charles M. Russell (Mont.) HS) opened the scoring in the 41st minute, collecting his team-leading third goal of the season on a one-timer from Nick Anderson (JR, White Bear Lake, Minn.) and James See (SR, Richfield, Minn./Holy Angels HS). But just 47 seconds later, Minnesota-Morris tied the game, as Brent Diggs (JR, Champlin, Minn.) headed home a free kick by Patrick O'Connor (JR, Ham Lake, Minn./Blaine HS).
"#D.J. Wendell# continues to be efficient with his minutes -- he has three goals on seven shots this season," Holker said. "We were all disappointed to give up the goal we conceded, especially a minute after we went up in front of our fans. Defending set pieces is something we will be spending a lot of time on this season. Even more important, we need to limit the number of fouls we commit and stop giving opponents manufactured chances to score.
"James See * played very well through illness. He cleans up a lot in the middle, and against a two very good players in Pat O'Connor and Brent Diggs he needed to be solid," Holker added.
Augsburg outshot Minnesota-Morris by a 19-11 margin, including an 11-4 advantage in the first half. Pascaul Venter (JR, Rochester, Minn./John Marshall HS), making his first start in over a year after a season-ending injury in the first game of the 2007 campaign, collected three saves in goal to pick up the victory.
Tyler Simpson (SO, Broomfield, Colo./Legacy HS) claimed five saves in goal in a losing effort for the Cougars. The game was a physical contest, with 33 fouls called -- 19 against Augsburg and 14 against Minnesota-Morris.
Augsburg opens Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play on Sept. 10 at 4:30 p.m., with a game at Concordia-Moorhead. Minnesota-Morris returns to action with its fourth straight nonconference game against an MIAC foe, with a 4 p.m. home contest on Friday against Bethel.
"The week off will be good to get some of our guys back into our first team," Holker said. "We are looking forward to getting MIAC play underway. Concordia is a much-improved team. I saw them handle the University of Mary at St. John's (2-0) on Sunday."
