IWU’s Men’s Soccer team played the last game of their season on Saturday, October 23. The Titans lost in a close 3-2 game to the number 23 ranked North Central College.
After IWU gave up two early goals, they struck back and tied the game just under 59 minutes into the game.
Both of Wesleyan’s goals came from players off the bench. Junior winger Gavin Smith scored his fifth goal of the season in the thirty-fourth minute of the game to cut the Cardinals’ lead to one.
The score was followed by a goal from center midfielder Logan Shumaker to tie the game at 2-2. He was assisted by Smith on his score.
Freshman goalkeeper Sam Kedzior put up a valiant effort against North Central, earning five saves in the game. Kedzior was under a lot of pressure throughout the contest with NCC putting up 19 shots on the Titans.
Despite his solid performance, Kedzior could not prevent the NCC’s first-year defensive-midfielder Edoardo Bonifacio from scoring his second goal of the game to put the Cardinals back on top just under 68 minutes into the game.
After the loss, the Titans finished the season with a record of 6-8-2, and 3-5 in the CCIW.
Going forward, IWU will be missing the support of senior wingers Clayton Anderson and Nico Thomas, center midfielders Will Quane, Ethan Hollander and Dane Hoare, midfielder Dorian Lesiuk and center back Alex Fedorets.
The Titans showed sparks of hope throughout the long and, at times, brutal season. They’ll look to their young talent to bounce back next year.