Aug. 16, 2008

Box Score

EVANSTON, Ill. - Kevin Valenta, Piero Bellizzi, Matt Eliason and Eamon O'Neill all tallied second-half goals as the Northwestern men's soccer team downed Lewis University 4-0 in an exhibition contest Saturday morning at Lakeside Field.

The two squads spent the first half feeling each other out, with neither team able to find the back of the net. NU held a 6-2 advantage in shots over the opening 40 minutes of play.

The Wildcats were finally able to dent the scoreboard at the 54:43 mark as Valenta beat Flyers goalkeeper Nick Veselka from 15 yards out. Bellizzi and Carl Pett were credited with assists on the play.

The advantage grew to 2-0 at 61:21 when Pett played a perfect through ball to Bellizzi who got behind Lewis' defense and beat Veselka one-on-one.

Just 83 seconds later, Northwestern scored on the play of the match. Defender Pat Coleman played the ball ahead deep into the right flank where Valenta was able to flag it down and play a perfect cross into the box when Eliason scored on a flying header to increase NU's lead to three.

O'Neill put a cap on the scoring with just over eight minutes remaining when he buried a penalty kick after the Flyers were called for a hand ball in the box.

Freshman Jonathan Harris earned the shutout in goal for the Wildcats, making two saves while playing the entire 80 minutes. NU finished with a 14-8 advantage in shots for the contest.

Northwestern returns to action Tuesday when it continues exhibition play by taking on Villanova in Richland, N.J., beginning at noon Central time.