FORT WAYNE, Ind. — The Wright State University Raiders men’s soccer team took to the pitch Aug. 27 in search of their second straight victory to start off the 2018 regular season. In a thriller, the Raiders earned a 3-2 victory in Fort Wayne over the Purdue University Fort Wayne Mastadons.
In the first half, the match did not start the way the Raiders would have hoped, as they gave up a goal in similar fashion to their season opener on Aug. 24, this time just two minutes into the match.
Purdue Fort Wayne’s Blake Cearns opened the scoring for the Mastadons at the 1:55 mark off a Zach Tom pass into the box.
After this early tally for the Mastadons, the Raiders controlled much of the first half of play, but were unable to capitalize on their 5-2 first half shot advantage, and headed into the locker room trailing 1-0.
The Raiders wasted no time getting the match evened up in the second half, as Stefan Rokvic netted his first of the season in the 50th minute.
The Green and Gold would once again have to play from behind, however, as a 62nd-minute goal from the Mastadons’ Chris Baranowski put Fort Wayne back on top. Rokvic took control at this point, adding another tally in the 79th minute to tie the match.
Alec Philippe added one final goal in the 85th minute to seal a victory for the Raiders. Deri Corfe led all forwards with three shots, and goalkeeper Joel Sundell made two saves on four Mastodon shots on target.
The Raiders men’s soccer team (2-0) will return to action at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 31 when it heads to Bowling Green State University to take on the Falcons.
