St. Cloud State Men’s Soccer Picks Up First Victory of 2023

Sunday, September 24

Hammond, Ind.

2:00 P.M. CT

St. Cloud State

1-5-2, 1-2-1

Purdue Northwest

4-1-3, 1-1-1

St. Cloud St.

Purdue Northwest

St. Cloud State Men’s Soccer Picks Up First Victory of 2023

9/24/2023 8:35:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

Huskies win 1-0 on the road behind an early goal from Kroeten

HAMMOND, Ind. – St. Cloud State Men's Soccer (1-5-2, 1-2-1 GLIAC) earned its first victory of the season, beating Purdue Northwest, 1-0, on Sunday afternoon at Dowling Park in Hammond, Ind. SCSU handed the Pride (4-1-3, 1-1-1 GLIAC) their first loss of the year.

The goal was scored after a lightning quick counterattack was initiated by Rhys Ward (Bettendorf, Iowa), who took possession from a PNW player near midfield and played it ahead on the right wing to a streaking Mika Folstad (St. Paul, Minn.). Folstad dribbled down the field until he was nearing the penalty box, passing the ball to Philip Caputo (Eagan, Minn.) who found Zinedine Kroeten (St. Louis Park, Minn.) open on the back side of the goal. Kroeten rifled a left-footed shot across the goal, into the right-side netting, giving the Huskies a 1-0 lead just five and a half minutes into the game.

TOP HUSKIES

Kroeten played all 90 minutes and provided the game-winning goal.
Caputo and Folstad played 80 and 48 minutes respectively and were both given an assist on the goal.
Dylan De Baldo (Vancouver, Wash.) earned a clean sheet, making four saves in 90 minutes.

QUOTEABLES – St. Cloud State head coach Sean Holmes

"Today – in every way possible – defined a complete team effort, from back to front...Zinedine [Kroeten] combined with [Mika] Folstad and [Philip] Caputo to put us ahead early in the game which relaxed us a little bit and allowed us to play and to regain our composure – which has lacked at times this season...the amount of work that Nolan Pratumwon and Andrew Holmes put in, in the midfield was admirable and the stalwart resolve of our back four [Noah Eklund, Juan Villegas, Vukota Mastilovic and Owen Worsdell] and Dylan [De Baldo] was terrific...today's win marked the second year in a row that we've beaten Purdue Northwest at their place and it was a great way to split the weekend."

On Dylan De Baldo... "Being a top-level goalkeeper requires doing the consistent, basic stuff, but also coming up with a couple of big saves and Dylan did that today adding his third shutout of the season."

On other notable players... "Rhys Ward playing up front made a real difference today – his strength, his ability to link up play and his intelligence were evident every moment he was on the field...we also had great contributions from Jonas Luskey Sanders and Evan Stearns off the bench that provided some good relief."

Going forward... "For us to be competitive in the GLIAC, we'll have to lengthen our bench and take advantage of the whole squad to grind out results, especially on the road...only playing one game this week [on Sunday] gives us a real training cycle to prepare our team to get better – and I think we've gotten better every week of the season so we're in a good place."

NOTABLES

The Huskies are now 3-2-0 all-time against Purdue Northwest.
The Pride led in total shots (6-4), shots on goal (4-3) and corner kicks (6-2).
SCSU led in saves (4-2).
Kroeten's goal was his second this season and the fifth of his career...also set a season-high, playing all 90 minutes for the first time this season and eighth time in his career.
Caputo's assist was his first of the season and sixth of his career...also played a season-high 80 minutes.
Folstad's assist was the first of his career.
De Baldo posted his third shutout of the season and sixth all-time...earned his first win in a Husky uniform...played all 90 minutes in goal for the sixth match in a row and seventh time this season.
Vukota Mastilovic (Belgrade, Serbia) logged 90 minutes for the 30th time in his career and seventh time this year.
Nolan Pratumwon (Mahtomedi, Minn.) logged all 90 minutes for the fifth match in a row and eighth time in his career.
Juan Villegas (Miami, Fla.) played all 90 minutes for the fourth-consecutive game.
Noah Eklund (Andover, Minn.) logged 90 minutes for the third time this season and the 24th time in his career.
Ward made his second start of the season and logged a season-high 62 minutes.
Andrew Holmes (St. Cloud, Minn.) made his fourth straight start of the season and played 90 minutes for the second consecutive match and third time this season.

UP NEXT

The Huskies return to Husky Stadium next Sunday, October 1 when they play Northern Michigan in their only game of the week. The match is slated to kick-off at noon CT. Links to the livestream (note – a paid subscription is required) and live stats for Friday's match can be found on the SCSU Men's Soccer schedule page.

For all the latest on St. Cloud State Men's Soccer, stay tuned to SCSUHuskies.com and follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.