MEN’S SOCCER

The Huntington soccer team upped its win streak over the University of Michigan-Dearborn to three with a 6-3 victory on Saturday afternoon at King Stadium. With this W, the Foresters remain perfect on the year at 3-0.

While the hosts doubled up the Wolverines on the scoreboard, the final score was not indicative of how close the match played out. The Foresters started off the afternoon down by one just a few minutes after the opening whistle.

The equalizer was swift, just three minutes after Michigan-Dearborn scored, and at the misfortune of the visitors. After the UMD keeper and one of his own players collided at the top of the box leaving an open frame, Eric Ocock took full advantage by sending a missile back netting for a 1-1 draw by the 10:22 mark.

Lawson and crew took the lead just before halftime when Jonas Musselmann scored on a corner kick, but it wouldn’t stick long. The start of the second half was a flurry of activity.

The Wolverines knotted things up four minutes in for the contest’s second deadlock of the day, but Huntington again promptly answered. This time Higor Barbieri put one away, his fifth of the season, for what finally proved a permanent lead less than 30 seconds after UMD’s celebration.

Barbieri would go on to play a role in two of HU’s final three goals. At the 55:36 mark, he drew a foul in the box that setup Noah Stanford’s PK and then assisted Zach Collins with 13 seconds remaining to put the exclamation point on the day.

While Stanford’s penalty kick gave Huntington a two-goal advantage of 4-2, there was no getting comfortable as the pesky Wolverines needed just five minutes to pull within one thanks to a set piece off a corner kick.

Musselmann returned the favor, scoring on a corner kick at the other end of the pitch for his second goal of the day in the 86th minute. Collins then put the finishing touches on the contest with his first collegiate goal with just a few ticks remaining.

The Foresters finished with 20 shots, 11 on frame, to UMD’s 13, nine of which were on target. Gabe Greenfield finished with six saves to notch the win in goal.

“Today was a new challenge for us as they (Michigan-Dearborn) were big, strong and organized,” said Coach Lawson. “I liked our fight and it was great to see our team push through to the end considering we had to battle back from being down early on. Once we finally took the lead, we had to watch it disappear before eventually taking the lead for good.

“It was promising because we weren’t our sharpest, yet we were able to come through when it counted. We definitely have some things to work on this coming week but I’m very pleased and excited with how we’re able to score goals when needed.”

The Foresters have a break until September 4 when the play the University of Southern Tennessee in the Lawrence Tech Invitational.