DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. ? A second half goal from Joonas Siikala lifted the Northwood men's soccer team to a 3-2 victory over Embry-Riddle. The Eagles were undefeated in conference coming into the game, but with the loss, they fall to 3-1-1 in conference and 5-2-3 overall, while Northwood improves to 4-2-1 in conference and 7-2-1 overall.
The first half saw a lot of end-to-end play as neither team completely dominated possession. Both the Eagles and Seahawks exhibited solid combination plays, for a total of seven shots for the Eagles and four for NU.
Embry-Riddle got on the scoreboard first, after a corner kick from Ryan Woods sailed over the fingertips of Seahawks' goalkeeper Andy Robertson to find AJ Barrett set up on the far post. Barrett jumped above his defender and sent a header into the upper-90 for his third goal on the season.
Northwood evened the score in the 32nd minute off the foot of Anders Sulisalo. Embry-Riddle goalkeeper Alfredo Diaz came out of his box to intercept a cross, but the Eagles' defense failed to clear the ball, leaving a wide open net for the Seahawks. Sulisalo trapped the ball and quickly ripped a shot straight down the middle of the net.
Five minutes later, Northwood took the lead. Joonas Siikala, the Seahawks' leading scorer, broke away from his defender and charged the net for a one-on-one battle with the goalkeeper. Diaz set up in good position to cut off the angle, but Siikala snuck a hard shot past Diaz for his 13th goal on the season.
With just a few minutes remaining in the first half, Barrett eluded his defender with some fancy footwork in the corner and sent a strong ball into the Seahawks' box where Michael Donald was standing inches off the goal line. Donald got a touch on the ball, but his shot went just high of the crossbar. Two minutes later, Barrett threw the ball in to Donald, who flicked the pass deep into the Seahawks' box to find Henry Rivas jumping for a header. Rivas sent the ball to the back of the net, but the referee had called a foul right before the shot, so the goal was disallowed.
The Eagles came out aggressive in the second half, netting their second goal just six minutes after the whistle blew. Hazael Reynosa sent a free kick into the middle of the field to find Sam Litchfield, who flicked the pass on to Marco Harleman. Harleman made a few touches to beat the goal keeper and then quite easily, passed the ball into the net for his first goal on the season.
Embry-Riddle had a great opportunity to take the lead in the 58th minute after a tough shot from Phil Middleton was mishandled by Robertson and recovered by Harleman. Harleman drove a shot to the back of the net, but for the second time, the goal was disallowed after the linesman called Harlemen off-side.
Northwood scored the game-winning goal in the 66th minute. The Eagles once again failed to clear their line, to the benefit of Siikala, who picked up the loose ball and fired a shot to put the Seahawks up 3-2.
The Eagles had 14 shots and 11 corner kicks in the game, but it was not enough, as Northwood held their lead for the last 25 minutes to hand Embry-Riddle their first loss in eight games.
The Blue and Gold will be back in action on Saturday, when they face Berry at 7 p.m.
