August 29, 2012

For Immediate Release

Fort Wayne, Ind. – In front of a packed house for their 2012 home opener on Wednesday night, the Indiana Tech men’s soccer team grabbed an early lead over Illinois Tech and backed it up with another strong defensive effort on their way to a 3-0 victory over the Scarlet Hawks.

“It was a good performance, especially in the second half, one that we can build on heading into the next two matches,” said Head Coach David Bokhart after the match. “After our early goal, we chased the game a bit and were a little disorganized but the second half was a convincing display.”

The win moved the Warriors to 2-0 on the season while the Scarlet Hawks dropped to 1-2.

Tech got the scoring started early, capitalizing on an opportunity in the 5th minute of the match when senior Aultain Gaye (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Central) found sophomore Jammar Allison (Brampton, Ontario/Davis & Elkins) all alone on the backside of the goal. Gaye delivered a perfect cross and Allison tapped it in to give Tech the early 1-0 edge.

The Warriors almost doubled their lead late in the first half when Allison knifed his way through the Illinois Tech defense and sent a cross in to sophomore Garrett Black (Memphis, Mich./Armada) whose shot went just wide of the net.

Indiana Tech continued to control the game in the second half and in the 69th minute Gaye padded the Warriors lead with his first goal of the season.

The Warriors put the game away in the 83rd minute after freshman Will Johnson (Ft. Wayne, Ind./Bishop Luers) tallied Tech’s third score of the night. Gaye sent a free kick into the box and Johnson cut in unmarked, and punched it into the back of the net with a beautiful finish.

Illinois Tech finished the night with 10 shots and put five on goal, but never really had a good look. The Warriors also finished with 10 shots, and took six corners compared to the Scarlet Hawks four. Standout goalie Reece Richardson (Halifax, England/Ryburn Valley) had another solid performance making five saves.

Coach Bokhart’s postgame thoughts: “There were a lot of solid individual performances and we got goals from three sources, which is encouraging. For me, Bernard Wilson (Lansing, Mich./Everett) came into the game and really settled things down for us in midfield and his confidence should grow from it. We still have some unanswered questions and more pieces to think about, but this is a good home result and good for the great support we had tonight.”

The Warriors return to action this weekend at the USF Invite. Tech will play back-to-back days beginning Saturday against Brescia University followed by a match with Shawnee State University on Sunday.

For more information on Indiana Tech athletics please call the Athletic Office at 260-422-5561 ext. 2492 or visit our website at http://www.indianatech.edu/athletics