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SPRING ARBOR, Mich. – The Spring Arbor University men's soccer team saw its six-match winning streak come to an end after suffering its first setback of the season on Saturday night, falling to Indiana Tech 2-1.
The Cougars (6-1-0) entered the contest as the only team in the country to win its first six matches, and following a goal from junior Stevenson Storm less than eight minutes in, SAU had its sights set on extending that streak to seven. Jared Putt started the attack by dribbling the ball deep into the attacking third before dropping a pass off to Cory Swartzendruber. Swartzendruber would feed a perfect ball through the box to a wide open Storm on the backside, who buried a shot into the back of the net.
Indiana Tech (2-0-1) would turn up the pressure in pursuit of the equalizer, though, creating several dangerous chances, but Spring Arbor goalkeeper Cobi Piper made several big stops to keep the Warriors off the scoreboard.
However, the visitors would finally breakthrough in the 29th minute, snapping a streak of more than 345 minutes of shutout soccer by the Cougars. Tech's Braden Walker played a long ball over the top of the SAU defense, who were without key cogs Michael Caccavo and Matthew Strangis, to Adam Knight, whose shot went off the crossbar and into the goal to level the match.
In the 58th minute, the Warriors struck again in similar fashion when Zach St. Aubin lobbed a long pass over the Cougar defense, creating a one-on-one opportunity for Landon Cochran, who was able to beat Piper for the go-ahead score.
Spring Arbor thought they had tied the score just over two minutes later when Putt ripped a shot past the Tech keeper, however, he would be whistled offside and the goal wiped off.
The Cougars continued to push for the tying goal, but Indiana Tech was able to hold off the late charge and secure the win.
The goal by Storm was his sixth of the season, tied for the most in the Crossroads League. Piper finished the night with a season-high 12 saves.
The Cougars were outshot 24-14 and the two goals allowed were the most SAU has surrendered in a single match all season.
Spring Arbor will look to bounce back when they host the University of Michigan-Dearborn on Wednesday, Sept. 17 at 7 p.m.
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