MITCHELL, S.D. – After both teams scored a goal in the opening minutes of the game, the Dakota Wesleyan University men's soccer team was unable to tally another goal as they fell to Doane University, 3-1 in a Great Plains Athletic Conference match Saturday at the Pepsi-Cola Soccer Complex.
Both teams got off to hot starts, but it was Doane (2-2, 2-2 GPAC) who scored first in the eighth minute of the game. However, DWU (2-5, 1-4 GPAC) evened the score less than a minute later as Ndrin Maloku (Prishtine, Albania) found Lucas Bule (Buenos Aires, Argentina) who nailed the ball past the Doane goalkeeper.
Seven minutes later, Doane regained a slight advantage after reeling off a pair of shots, which one of them found the back of the net.
Both defenses tightened for the remainder of the half. Despite recording three shots and a corner kick in the final 10 minutes of the half, DWU was unable to even the score before halftime.
With 22 minutes left to play, Jason Jattan (Union City, Calif.) took a free kick from just outside the Doane penalty box. His low shot went just wide of the goal as Doane held its slight advantage.
In the 74th minute, Maloku lined up a free kick that deflected off the post. DWU had another opportunity minutes later, but was unable to capitalize on the free kick.
With just over four minutes to play, Doane scored off a penalty kick to extend its lead to two goals. In the end, it proved to be too much as DWU fell at home.
Jattan scored the lone goal for the Tigers, as Nicolas Morillo (Barranquilla, Columbia) added three shots and Maloku notched five shots. Matthew Campbell (Duluth, Minn.) snagged six saves in the net for DWU.
The Tigers travel to take on rival Mount Marty University at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday in Yankton, S.D.
