LEBANON, Ill. – Looking to stay among the top eight teams in the Great Lakes Valley Conference race, Missouri S&T's men's soccer team picked up a critical road victory Friday night as it blanked McKendree 3-0 at Leemon Field.
The victory moves the Miners to 4-5-4 overall but 3-2-4 in the GLVC, allowing them to vault over McKendree in the league standings into seventh place with three games remaining. The Miners have 13 points in GLVC play, one more than the Bearcats and William Jewell and two more than Missouri-St. Louis, who has only two games remaining on its conference schedule.
Sigurd Semlitsch (Oslo, Norway/Stabekk Videregaaende Skole) put the Miners on the board in the 19
th minute as he scored off an assist from
Tony Petruso (O'Fallon, MO/St. Dominic) on a give-and-go, as Semlitsch got the ball in the box and put a shot from about eight yards away past Bearcat goalkeeper Anthony Swenson.
The game remained a one-goal contest until the 67
th minute, when
Jason Jorgensen (Florence, Italy/Liceo Scientifico Santa Maria) got a pass from
Connor Hui (Markham, ON/Bill Crothers) and headed it by Swenson to double the S&T lead. Semlitsch put the game on ice in the 86
th minute with his second tally of the night, as he cut through the middle of the Bearcat defense and a tapped in the pass from
Shane Cairns (North Olmstead, OH/North Olmstead).
The Miner defense held the Bearcats (5-4-4, 3-3-3 GLVC) to just one shot on goal, which was turned away by
Davis Joseph (Andover, KS/Andover Central) as he recorded his second shutout of the season. The teams were even on shots with six apiece, but all three of the Miner shots on net were goals.
Missouri S&T will play GLVC leader Maryville Sunday in its final regular season road game, which will get underway at 2:30 p.m. in St. Louis.
