No. 19 UChicago Downs CWRU in Wet and Wild Saturday Night
The 19th-ranked University of Chicago men's soccer team picked up a 1-0 win over Case Western Reserve on Saturday night to extend its unbeaten streak to 13 consecutive games.
Case Western Reserve had multiple chances early in the game with Ali Alamery making diving saves in both the 13th and 24th minutes on great looks from Phillip Washington. UChicago also had an outstanding look in the 20th minute, but Jadyn Hsieh-Bailey was denied in a sprawling effort from the Spartan keeper.
In the 32nd minute, the game saw its first of two weather delays as the team headed to the locker rooms for a 39-minute delay. Out of the delay, Case Western had an amazing look on a cross to an unmarked man at the far post, but Ohta Kamiya was unable to put the shot on target. The game would continue for six minutes before the teams had to return to the locker rooms for the second time, this time with the delay spanning for nearly two hours.
After restarting the game at 8:20 PM, nearly three hours after the original kickoff time, the teams not only faced eachother's stout defenses, but they also had to deal with sheets of pouring rain for the entirety of the final 52 minutes. The rain did not phase the Maroons as they jumped out of the gates in a fury with Chase Perry forcing a save and William Stewart ringing the cross bar before the teams went into the half in a scoreless draw.
The Maroons kept their momentum going into the opening minutes of the second half as they tallied five shots in the first 10 minutes of the half, forcing several saves by the Case Western keeper. In the 54th minute, William Stewart became the hero as Max Weene ripped a cross across the turf from the left side, and Stewart flicked the shot near post to beat the Case Western keeper for the 1-0 lead.
The Spartans would have multiple chances late in the game, but the UChicago defense stood tall with their ninth team clean sheet of the season.
The Maroons outshot the Spartans 12-9 and held a 7-1 advantage in corner kicks in the win. Ali Alamery led the team in goal with 3 saves en route to his seventh clean sheet, and Max Weene, Nick Lorr, Sean Cooke, and Evan Kanellos helped lead the defense to another clean sheet with full 90-minute outings from all four players.