UNIVERSITY CENTER - The nationally-second ranked Saginaw Valley State University men's soccer team defeated the Walsh Cavaliers on Sunday afternoon (10/12) at SVSU's Braddock Field by a final score of 5-1.  It was the second time this season that the Cardinals defeated Walsh, as SVSU recorded a 4-3 overtime victory on September 19th.

Saginaw Valley dominated the first half from the opening kick until the halftime horn.  The Cardinals out-shot the Cavaliers by a 10-4 margin in the first half, with 4 of those shots finding the back of the net.

Junior midfielder Vaughn Frederick got things started for SVSU at the 5:26 mark of the first half when he headed down a pass from junior Tyler Channell and was able to beat the Walsh goalkeeper to give the Cards a 1-0 lead.  It was Frederick's first goal of the season as well as Channell's first assist.

Channell would score a goal of his own after receiving a long pass down the left side of the field from Craig Neal and beat the goalkeeper to give the Cardinals a 2-0 lead at the 25:25 mark.  The assist was Neal's league-leading sixth assist of the season.

SVSU's offense would strike again three minutes later at the 28:29 mark after senior Laurence Paterson put one in the net off the right goal post to extend the Cardinal lead to 3-0.  Channell would record his second assist of the day on the goal.  The goal was Paterson's first of his senior campaign.

The offense was not done yet as freshman Mounir Darbaki scored the first goal of his collegiate career at the 42:53 mark of the first half.  Darbaki scored on a put-back off of Aleksandar Isaevski's initial shot.  Isaevski received his third assist of the season on the play.  Saginaw Valley would head into the break with a commanding 4-0 lead.

The Cardinals would extend their lead to 5-0 at the 53:52 mark of the second half when Isaevski scored a goal of his own on a penalty kick.  It was his fourth goal of his redshirt freshman season.

Walsh would add a goal of their own at the 63:48 mark when Bailey Moody was able to beat goalkeeper Alexandre Bouillennec on a rebound off of Dillon Parson's shot.  Parson received an assist on the goal for the Cavaliers.

The Cardinal defense would hold the rest of the way and preserve a 5-1 victory.  SVSU outshot Walsh 24-6 on the afternoon.

With the victory, the senior class became the winningest class in program history as they recorded their 51st win.  The 2014 class passed the 2013 class, which finished with 50 victories in their Cardinal careers.

"Another big offensive performance with some great goals today," stated SVSU Head Coach Cale Wassermann, who recorded his 60th collegiate coaching victory as well in the triumph.  "I thought this weekend we turned a corner and started clicking in our attack, which is big-time leading into the second half of conference play. We need to continue to defend well, but this surge (9 goals in 2 games) was a big boost for us." 

Wassermann continued...

"I am also extremely proud of the team, especially the senior class, who became the winningest class in history with 51.  They have been incredible these last 4 years and we hope to send them out with some more wins in the next few weeks." 

SVSU improves its record to 10-0-2 overall and 7-0-2 in GLIAC play as Walsh falls to 4-7-0 overall and 2-7-0 in the GLIAC.  The Cardinals return to action on Friday (10/17) when they travel to take on the Lake Erie Storm for a 1:00 pm match.  Saginaw Valley and Lake Erie played to a 0-0 draw in double-overtime on October 5th at SVSU.