SPRING ARBOR, Mich. – The No. 19 ranked Spring Arbor University men's soccer team opened Crossroads League play Saturday afternoon, hosting conference rival Taylor University. The Cougars scored twice in the second half to earn their fifth consecutive victory.

THE BASICS

FINAL SCORE: #19 Spring Arbor 2, Taylor 0

LOCATION: Cougar Soccer Complex | Spring Arbor, Mich.

RECORDS: Spring Arbor 8-2-0 (1-0-0 CL), Taylor 4-2-2 (0-1-0 CL)

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Senior Lewis Jones broke the scoreless deadlock in the 60th minute with his sixth goal of the season. Sophomore Jacob Crull put a 50-yard pass over the top of the Trojan defense on to Jones' foot, and Jones finished with a one-touch shot over the TU goalkeeper to give SAU the lead.
• The Cougars put the game away with a goal from freshman Michael Procopio in the 82nd minute. After the Trojans failed to clear a corner kick, Procopio gathered the loose ball at the top of the 18-yard box and ripped a shot to the corner of the net.
• Spring Arbor outshot Taylor 29-11 and recorded seven corner kicks to the Trojans' six.
• Goalkeeper Isiah Handspike finished with three saves – all in the first half – to post his third straight clean sheet.

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE

• The victory was the third straight for Spring Arbor over Taylor. All three wins have been by an identical 2-0 margin.
• The Cougars have registered five shutouts this year – the second-most in the Crossroads League.
• The 29 shots taken by Spring Arbor were the most by the team in a single match this season.

QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH NATHAN MILLER

• "Taylor is an experienced and tough team to play against. I think they are a top-3 or -4 team in our league, so to open conference play with this result was important."
• "The two goals were real golazos, so that was fun to watch the boys put together some real class. Jonesy's goal was something else."
• "Our control of the match with the ball and how we moved them around in the second half was really positive. Our guys work so hard every day to play like that and the defensive work rate was immense. Really proud of the guys."
• "This is rivalry week this week and we need to rest, regroup, and get ready for IWU."

UP NEXT

Spring Arbor will travel to Marion, Indiana to take on Indiana Wesleyan University (3-4-2, 0-0-1 CL) on Wednesday, Oct. 4 before returning home to host the University of Saint Francis (3-6-0, 0-1-0 CL) on Saturday, Oct. 7 at 7 p.m.

STAY CONNECTED: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube
DOWNLOAD OUR APPS: iOS (iPhone/iPad) | Android