After opening the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference schedule with a win on Homecoming, the Benedictine University men's soccer team will see two tough NACC opponents this week. On Tuesday, BenU will host Dominican University, who has won every NACC Tournament Championship since the conference's 2006 founding. The Eagles will then travel to Wisconsin on Saturday to face an Edgewood College team that defeated BenU in the 2014 NACC Tournament.
Benedictine (2-5-1, 1-0-0) comes into the tough stretch of games riding good momentum after Saturday's 3-1 victory over Wisconsin Lutheran College.
Nick Kapetanos scored his fourth goal on the season to start things off, putting BenU up 1-0 in the game's 16th minute. Wisconsin Lutheran tied the score off a penalty kick just after halftime, but BenU's
Ante Markotic netted two goals to give the Eagles the victory. The two tallies were Markotic's third and fourth of the season, tying Kapetanos for the team lead.
Tuesday: vs. Dominican (3-3-2, 1-0-0), 7:00 p.m.
Facing the Dominican Stars have been a daunting task for NACC teams throughout the conference's history, as the team has lost to an NACC opponent just one time. However, the one loss came last season against Benedictine, who snapped Dominican's streak of 104 matches without a loss with a 1-0 victory on the road last September 25.
Edgar Reyes, who leads the Eagles in assists this season with four, scored the game's only goal in the 15th minute. It was BenU's only shot on goal, as the Eagles used a strong defense and six saves from
Zorohn Reed to win despite being outshot 14-8.
This season, Dominican has played a tough schedule. The Stars have played nationally-ranked teams in Washington University (Missouri) and Wheaton College, tying Washington 0-0 and falling to Wheaton 2-1. In addition, the team has played a 5-3 University of Chicago team and tough CCIW schools in Illinois Wesleyan University, Elmhurst College, and North Central College. On Saturday, the Stars opened up NACC play with a 2-1 overtime win at Concordia-University Wisconsin, scoring in the final second of the first overtime.
Saturday: at Edgewood (3-3-1, 1-0-0)
Benedictine gets a chance to avenge last season's NACC Tournament loss to Edgewood on Saturday, as Edgewood took last season's conference semi-final matchup 2-0. BenU suffered defeat despite outshooting Edgewood 19-9 and attempting 14 second-half shots. During last year's regular season, Benedictine defeated Edgewood 2-1 in two overtimes behind two goals from Markotic.
Also nicknamed the Eagles, Edgewood has played well in recent games. After a 0-3 start to the year, the team is 3-0-1 over its last four contests, defeating Ripon College, Lake Forest College, and Concordia University Chicago. Edgewood took Saturday' NACC opener against CUC 3-2, building a 3-0 lead and holding off a late Cougars rally. Before facing BenU, Edgewood will travel to Marian University for a conference contest on Tuesday.
