WHEATON, IL - The Benedictine University men's soccer team made it a split of opening weekend by holding off Washington University in St. Louis on Saturday to grab the first win of the year at Wheaton College.

FINAL SCORE
Benedictine 3, WashU 2

THE DETAILS
• Benedictine made the most of the first chance of the game, grabbing a 1-0 lead in just the fourth minute of the contest
• Aldreiron Smith scored from the top left portion of the box, burying a feed from Rogelio Delatorre
• Less than three minutes later Shawn Chervets helped keep momentum on Benedictine's side with a save
• Benedictine countered and drew a foul in the box to set up a penalty kick
• Lukasz Sulka converted to make the score 2-0 at the seven minute mark
• WashU converted on a PK in the 55th minute to draw within 2-1
• A header just over four minutes later enabled WashU, an always strong regional foe, to tie the game
• Adam Chaplin headed home the winner in the 76th minute on a cross from Delatorre
• WashU had a late chance, but Zach Albright, who played the final 30+ minutes in goal, tallied the save
• WashU put up 30 shots in the game, 18 of which were on target
• Benedictine scored three times on just nine total shots
• Sulka led the way with four shots, three on target
• Chervets made 13 saves with Albright adding three

FROM THE COACH
"Having the opportunity to compete against two programs that are regulars in the NCAA Central Region rankings in our opening weekend of the regular season has really helped our team identify the type of collective effort and energy it's going to take for us to have high-level success this year," head coach Attila Schmidt said. "Our resolve was really tested after Friday's performance and I couldn't have been more excited with our teams unity and desire to compete on Saturday."

UP NEXT
Benedictine (1-1) continues the tough draw to start the year with the home opener on Wednesday afternoon against #3 University of Chicago at 4:30 p.m.