TIFFIN – Every healthy player saw time on the field in Heidelberg University men's soccer team's 3-2 win over Defiance College on Tuesday evening. The Student Princes dominated possession and outshot the visitors 27-5 in the win, scoring three times late in the first half. Defiance rallied for two goals late, but could not find an equalizer.

Heidelberg evened its record to 2-2-2 on the season with the win. Defiance fell back to .500 at 3-3.

FIRST HALF

• After struggling to piece together passes in the offensive third, Heidelberg broke through in the 37th minute. Chris Koczak corralled a ball that banged around the penalty area after being mishandled by the Defiance goalkeeper. His strike from 15 yards out gave the Student Princes a 1-0 lead.
• Five minutes later, defender Greg Raimondo made a run with the ball into the offensive end. A shot on goal was blocked into the air, which Raimondo headed far post into the net. The goal was Raimondo's first of the season.
  
  
• Koczak scored again with less than two minutes remaining in the half. The opportunity was created when Kurt Wilhelm struck a ball low and to the left of the goalkeeper. Damian Koester dove and knocked it down with his left hand, but it rolled directly to the right foot of Koczak. His second goal of the game gave the senior captain five on the season.

SECOND HALF

• As they did in the first half, Heidelberg controlled the pace of play, even as the Student Princes subbed in a host of reserves.
• Isaac Bwayo had two great opportunities after the 70th minute. Each chance was thwarted by a point blank save by Koester.
• On a restart in the 75th minute, Josiah Nichols put the Yellow Jackets on the board. He powered in a shot from 25 yards out.
• Later, Nichols added his second goal and cut the HU lead to 3-2 with 1:40 remaining. Nichols slipped a shot past Jeffrey Urizar on a breakaway.

KEY STATS

• The second half got a bit chippy, with six yellow cards being issued. Heidelberg received four while Defiance received two. After the teams combined for four fouls in the first half, the squads received a total of 21 whistles after halftime.
• Bwayo led Heidelberg with five shots.
• HU goalkeeper Jake Kress picked up his first collegiate victory.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• Head coach Ryan Carruth on his team dominating possession: "We always want to try and go out and boss possession and I think we did a good job of that today. We clearly had a lion's share of the ball, and when we have such good possession and are creating such good chances, we need to finish. We had 27 shots today, and this is the kind of day when I think we should score six or seven goals."
• Carruth on the team's depth: "We were able to play every healthy player on our team today. We brought in a second group and they did okay, but we were disappointed to concede two goals. I thought our concentration in the last moments of the game was not good enough."
• Carruth on opening up the lead and controlling the match early: "The first 70 minutes were very good. The senior leadership was good and the communication was good. I think we saw some quality performances from our first year guys who are starting to build some confidence."

UP NEXT

Heidelberg travels to Grove City (3-2) on Saturday. The match is slated for a 3 p.m. start.