Box Score

Millersville, Pa. — The quick-strike Millersville men's soccer team was at it again on Wednesday night. Back-to-back first half goals, including Matt Kadoch's first of two on the evening launched Millersville to a 3-1 victory over Wilmington at Chryst Field.

It was a physically demanding game between a pair of teams that each advanced to the NCAA Division II Tournament a season ago. Wilmington (1-5) handed the Marauders (3-1) their first loss of the season in 2009 and the Black and Gold was determined not to allow their counterparts from The First State to pick up such a result this time out.

Kadoch, who has been close to picking up his first goal a number of times this season, broke a scoreless tie in the 28th minute. The skilled forward finished off a scramble in front of Wilmington keeper Duhan Malali by blasting a shot to the upper part of the net at 27:30.

Millersville has been lauded for its ability to put goals on the board in a hurry, but the squad may have really outdone itself on Wednesday. Just nine seconds after Kadoch made it 1-0, Pat Baffuto headed in an Ethan Daubert pass to put the Marauders ahead by two. The crowd had barely gotten settled before they were up and cheering again.

"Those two quick goals are a staple of the mentality we've instilled at Millersville," said fourth year head coach Steve Widdowson. "We constantly like to attack and the best time to get someone is when they're down. If the opportunity is there to go get more goals, then we want to go get them."

Millersville's two-goal edge would hold up into the latter stages of the game, but the Wildcats would cut the lead to one in the 68th minute. Jorge Zapata threaded a ball to leading-scorer Nickalus McDonald for a clean breakaway. Matt Langione tried to come out and cut down McDonald's angle, but the visiting forward popped the ball past the MU keeper and into the net.

From that point forward Wilmington played with a desperation, regularly pushing defenders up into the attack in trying to tie the game. Kadoch would ensure Wilmington's fate a little bit over seven minutes later as he took an Andrew Schuler pass, slipped around a defender and beat Malali for a 3-1 lead and some breathing room. Schuler's assist marked his first career point.

Kadoch notched his first multi-goal game as a Marauder, but emphasized that the result was what really mattered. "It's good to come out here and get a win," he explained. "We've been working really hard, and while I'm definitely happy to get my first goals of the season, I'm more concerned about the win and the way we played."

"This was a really good result for us against a quality opponent," noted Widdowson. "Their record isn't indicative of the talent they possess. Wilmington has a lot of threats up front and they're dangerous. This was us getting back to Millersville soccer and outside of the one lapse we had, I thought this was the best performance we've put in so far this season."

The Marauders fell out of the NSCAA/HendrickCars.com National Rankings for the first time since Sept. 9, 2008 —a span of 25 straight polls— when the latest poll was released yesterday. If the effort on Wednesday is any indication of things to come, Millersville may find itself back there sooner rather than later.

Millersville and Wilmington both collected nine shots on the evening with the Marauders holding a 5-2 edge in corner kicks. The foul count served notice to the physicality of the game with 33 total fouls being whistled and four yellow cards being handed out. Langione made a season-high three saves in the win, while Milali stopped two MU shots.

A match-up with C.W. Post is next up on the schedule for the Marauders. That game is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Chryst Field on Saturday night. It is Youth Night at the stadium and all youth soccer players are encouraged to come out and support the Marauders and wear their team's jersey to the game while doing so.