SPRING ARBOR, Mich. – In front of a raucous capacity crowd at the Cougar Soccer Complex, the Spring Arbor University men's soccer team tallied three second half goals to propel the squad to a 3-0 win over Olivet Nazarene University in the 2017 home opener Friday night.

THE BASICS

FINAL SCORE: Spring Arbor 3, Olivet Nazarene 0

LOCATION: Cougar Soccer Complex | Spring Arbor, Mich.

RECORDS: Spring Arbor 4-2-0, Olivet Nazarene 2-3-1

HOW IT HAPPENED

• After a scoreless first 45 minutes, Spring Arbor erupted for three goals in the second half. The first tally came just over two minutes into the period with a header from Alex Sokalski. Jacob Crull served a corner kick into the box and Morris Kamara flicked it on to Sokalski to give SAU the lead.
• The Cougars capitalized on another set piece in the 63rd minute. Lewis Jones delivered a perfect ball in front of the goal and Kamara slipped a shot past the Olivet Nazarene goalkeeper.
• Kamara found the back of the net again in the 71st minute to put the game away.
• Spring Arbor finished the night with 18 shots while Olivet Nazarene totaled 12. The Cougars also had seven corner kicks compared to ONU's three.

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE

• Spring Arbor snapped its two-match skid – the first time the team has lost two in a row since 2014.
• Kamara is one of the hottest players in the country right now. The junior forward has scored in five of the team's six matches, and currently leads the Crossroads League and ranks second in the NAIA in goals with eight.
• The shutout was the second of the season for the Cougars.
• Spring Arbor extended its home unbeaten streak to 23 matches dating back to the 2014 season.

FOR OLIVET NAZARENE

• Christian Henock-Berhanu registered a team-high three shots for the Tigers.
• ONU goalkeeper Chris Taborn collected seven saves.

QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH NATHAN MILLER

• "I'm so proud of the guys' response to a really hard week last week. We hadn't lost two straight matches in four years, so to handle a new situation like that it says a lot about our team's leaders. They are top quality men."
• "We had a great week preparing for how we wanted to break our opponent down and the guys were superb, especially in the second half."
• "ONU is a really good side with a great coach, so to score three second half goals and keep a clean sheet took a lot of quality."

UP NEXT

Spring Arbor continues its homestand with a match against Madonna University (3-0-0) on Monday, Sept. 11. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

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