The Wildcats of Wilmington University held off the visiting Bears of the New York Institute of Technology, 2-1 in regional men’s soccer action on Saturday afternoon at the Kirkwood Soccer Complex. With the victory, the ‘Cats won the Wilmington University Invitational and remained unbeaten to start the season.
NYIT increased the pressure early for much of the second half and it finally paid off when David Suchodolski buried a deflection off a Wildcat defender during the 68th minute to cut the lead to 2-1. The Bears continued pressing, and had a few chances late in the game, including a shot as time expired. Wilmington keeper Ethan Kavanagh came up huge with a diving save to his right as the final whistle sounded.
Kavanagh was solid in net, recording six saves for Wilmington, while Cosimo D’Agostino notched six saves for the Bears. NYIT held a slim edge in shots (13-12), and had an 8-4 edge in corner kicks.
With the win, Wilmington remained unbeaten and improved to 2-0 on the season, while NYIT dropped to 1-1 to start the year. The Wildcats return to the pitch on Thursday afternoon, when they travel to take part in the Southern New Hampshire University Invitational. Their first action is against St. Anselm College with the game scheduled to start at 4:00 PM.