In a battle of conference unbeatens, and a likely bet to meet again in the conference finals next month, the University of Minnesota, Morris and the College of St. Scholastica tangled on the pitch under slate gray skies in Morris this afternoon.
In the men’s short four-year history, they’d never beaten Scholastica during the regular season. With a possible NCAA tournament at-large bid in the offing, head coach Christian DeVries and his team knew winning today would matter greatly at the end of the season.
As it has all season, the Cougars’ team skill at possession and passing dictated the pace for Scholastica, who, for much of the game, relied on single breakout attacks that were quickly snuffed out by Morris’ backline.
Early in the first half, Mattson Towley went down with a knee contusion and sat out the remainder of the first half. But he returned in the second wearing a brace, just in time to put away a threaded pass from Pat O’Connor, giving UMM a 1-0 lead in the 65th minute.
Scholastica attempted to pick up the pressure from that point but the Cougars’ defense and midfield play thwarted them at every turn. After the game, O’Connor said the defense was the key to victory.
“They stepped up today. They got the ball out of the back and up to us mids. We hold the ball so well up top,” he said.
Tyler Weber earned his fourth shutout with four key saves and several more knockaways in goal. It was the Cougars’ seventh shutout in seven wins. They improve to 7-3 this season and have not yielded a conference goal this season.
UMM hosts visiting Northland College tomorrow at noon. This coming weekend they play Crown and Northwestern College on the road.
Minnesota, Morris 1