Jaguars claws too sharp for Roos in 4-1 victory

By: David Cordill

Posted: 10/8/07

The UMKC men's soccer team suffered its first conference defeat of the season, losing 4-1 to the Jaguars of Indiana University Purdue University Indiana (IUPUI) Saturday afternoon in Indianapolis, Ind.

The Kangaroos' record dropped to 5-5-1 overall and 1-1 in the Summit League after the Jaguars (4-7-1, 2-0 Summit League) ripped the UMKC nets for four tallies on the afternoon, including two goals coming within a span of 28 seconds.

"They beat us 4-1, you got to give them credit," said UMKC Head Coach Rick Benben. "We had some setbacks and we weren't able to overcome them."

IUPUI's Vangel Nacovski opened up the scoring 20:26 into the match on a penalty kick after UMKC junior defender Kyle Brewer received a yellow card for a handball. Less than half a minute later, the Jaguars went up 2-0 when Louie Leger's rebound shot got past UMKC freshman goalkeeper Ken Cooper.

Benben replaced an injured Cooper with junior Brandon Amaya to begin the second half.

UMKC trimmed the Jaguar lead to 2-1 at the 53:47 mark. Senior midfielder Ali Dorri directed a shot to the near post, getting his second strike of the season. Dorri's goal was unassisted.

But IUPUI was quick to respond. Moments after the Kangaroos seemingly got back into the game, the Jaguars' Eric Wiegman blasted a shot into the UMKC net for a 3-1 advantage.

After freshman forward John Bayron Sosa and freshman defender Brian Quintana were both whistled for yellow cards in the 58th and 65th minutes respectively, the Jaguars put the match to rest. IUPUI's Weston Hawkins' boot at the 72:25 mark made the difference 4-1, closing out the scoring for the afternoon.

Benben felt his team dominated in early going but were once again stung as a result of several breakdowns during the match.

"We made some mistakes," Benben said. "They beat us and that's kind of it."

IUPUI finished the game with seven shots on goal; UMKC recorded three. The Kangaroos had 15 shots total to the Jaguars' 11. Cooper had three saves at goal for the Roos while Amaya had zero. UMKC finished the match with nine corner kick opportunities to IUPUI's five.

The UMKC men's soccer team resumes Summit League play this Saturday at Bourke Field at Rockhurst University with a 1 p.m. kickoff against the Leathernecks of Western Illinois University.

dcordill@unews.com