Men's Soccer Takes on Summit Tournament Field

MACOMB, Ill. - For the second straight season the IPFW Mastodons will make an appearance in the Summit League Championships, hosted by the Western Illinois Leathernecks, and will face the Oakland Grizzlies in an noon kickoff.

Opponent: Oakland Grizzlies (10-6-1)
When: Friday, November 9 | noon
Where: Macomb, Ill.
Series: Oakland leads
Live Stats: Western Illinois Live Stats
Streaming Video: Western Illinois All-Access (subscription required)

SCOUTING THE MASTODONS
The IPFW Mastodons started the season with an 0-12-1 record, before quickly turning the year around, going 4-2 in the final six matches of the season to claim the fourth and final berth into the 2012 Summit League Tournament.

Leading the way offensively for the Mastodons has been freshman Corey Tom, a second team All-Conference selection, who has four goals to pace the squad. Jose Rodriguez has three goals, while three players - Jackson Tooke, Mitch Falkenstern, and Austin West - have each scored twice. Tooke, who was also named Second Team All-Summit League, leads the team with three assists, while Falkenstern has added a pair.

Sophomore goalkeeper Brandon Cloutier has a 2.15 goals against average with two shutouts and 92 saves on the season.

SCOUTING THE GRIZZLIES
Oakland comes into the Summit League Tournament match-up with a 10-6-1 record, the last loss by the Golden Grizzlies coming via a 2-1 IPFW win on October 20.

Kyle Bethel, the Summit League Offensive Player of the Year, leads the squad with six goals and a league-high 11 assists, while Miche'le Lipari also has six goals to go with three assists. Joey Tinnion has five goals and three assists, while Johnny Dreshaj has four goals. In all, 13 players have scored a goal for the Grizzlies, while 13 others have at least one assist.

Defensively, Scott Messer has a 1.23 goals against average with 54 saves and five shutouts, while defender John Timm was named the Summit League Defensive Player of the Year.

LAST MEETING
Playing a man down for the final 25 minutes of the game, IPFW got a goal from freshman Austin West with 21 minutes to play in the game to secure the Mastodons' first win over the Oakland Golden Grizzlies in program history by a 2-1 score in the second match of a women's / men's doubleheader on Saturday evening.

With the win IPFW improves to 3-12-1 overall on the year, and have won three straight matches, and are 3-1-1 over the last five contests. Oakland, who remains in a tie for first place in the league standings, drops to 9-6-0 and 4-1-0 in league games.

IPFW wasted little time in jumping out to a lead when freshman Jose Rodriguez took a pass through the box from Darnell Parris and put it past Oakland goalkeeper Scott Messer at the left post just 15:29 into the contest, giving the 'Dons the one-goal lead.

The advantage lasted just under 16 minutes, as Miche'le Lipari scored his sixth goal of the season to knot the score at one apiece 31:15 into the game. Neither team would find the scoreboard again in the half, taking a 1-1 tie into the locker room at halftime.

After picking up a yellow card with just over two minutes left in the first half, Mitch Falkenstern added his second yellow card of the game with 25:21 left in the match, leaving the team a man down against one of the top scoring teams in the country; however, it was the Mastodons that found the net, when West put in a free kick from just outside of the box, putting the shot over the wall, and into the left-hand upper-90, out of the reach of Messer.

Oakland threatened many times over the last 20-plus minutes, including a header off the crossbar by Kyle Bethel, but nothing would find the back of the net as IPFW held on for the 2-1 win.

ALL-TIME SERIES
Before the most recent meeting between the teams, Oakland had swept the all-time series between the Mastodons and Golden Grizzlies, winning all 17 meetings, and holding the Mastodons to just two goals in the series.

The series began in 1982, a 4-0 Oakland win, and the teams played every year from 1982 until 1988. The series resumed in 1993 until 1996, and the teams met again in 2001. The last five meetings have come with both squads members of The Summit League, including a 1-0 Oakland win in Rochester a season ago.

~ Feel the Rumble ~

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Men's Soccer Takes on Summit Tournament Field

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