Senior Night | Photo by Arden Reimer | The Wright State Guardian
The Wright State men’s soccer team returned to Alumni Field this past Saturday for senior night, falling in heartbreaking fashion to Detroit Mercy with postseason hopes on the line.
Implications
The Raiders came into Saturday with a record of 3-6-4 and 2-3-1 in the Horizon League, good for eighth place. In order to qualify for the postseason tournament, the Raiders need to move up to sixth place.
The Titans held a record of 3-7-3 overall and 2-2-2 in HL play, holding the sixth-place spot.
WSU entered Saturday night’s crucial matchup holding the all-time record against DMU 19-13-2, with its most recent victory coming in the spring of 2021.
Prior to the game beginning, WSU recognized its seniors in pregame festivities.
Senior night
The match got off to a very quick start from both sides. Detroit Mercy opened the scoring in the third minute of play.
“After the first goal, we had good energy,” WSU’s goalkeeper Alessandro Malterer mentioned. “We rallied our guys and got back together and went back and scored.”
WSU would quickly find themselves in the score column, as Cole Werthmuller scored in the sixth minute of play. His equalizing goal marked his fourth in the last six games.
“Reece [Allbaugh] played a great ball, and I was able to finish it,” Werthmuller added.
After the first pair of goals, WSU settled in and did an exceptional job of pinning the Titans in their own half of the field and holding control of the ball.
The two goals scored in the opening minutes of the game would be the only ones recorded for most of the game. Wright State had seven shot attempts in total for the first half, and the Titans had five.
The Raiders had a difficult time holding their lines in the first half, committing six offsides through the first 45 minutes.
In the second half of play, both sides found success despite not scoring.
Malterer tallied four saves in goal on the game, stalling the Titans’ offense after the goal in the opening minutes.
As the game was nearing a 1-1 draw, the ball was kicked high in the air by DMU. As the ball fell to the ground, it struck the hand of WSU senior Jacob Adams. The hand ball was committed inside the 18-yard line, resulting in a game-deciding penalty kick for the Titans.
DMU would capitalize on the mistake and score the game-winning goal with just seconds remaining. The loss served as a heartbreak for the Raiders, who played a great game but lost from one crucial error.
“It is a hard thing to explain as a coach, and this is soccer, it is beautiful and cruel,” Head Coach Alex Van der Sluijs added.
The Raiders now sit in ninth place with only two games remaining against HL opponents. WSU can still qualify for the postseason but need to finish out strong with some help around the league.
“We just need to be tough, positive and selfless,” Werthmuller stated. “We have to grind it out and do whatever we can to win.”
