Tues., Sept. 15, 2009

  MIDLAND, Mich. -- Senior Justin Darvish proved devlish to Northwood University leading the University of Saint Francis to a 3-1 win on Tuesday afternoon.

  Northwood is now 3-2-1 overall on the season. St. Francis improves to 4-2-1 with the victory.

  Darvish gave the Cougars a 1-0 lead at 7:45 scoring on a penalty kick, his second penalty kick goal this season. Northwood tied the game at 18:26 on a goal by Max Werner off a rebound to even the score 1-1. But that was all the Timberwolves managaged against USF keeper Nick Morken, who finished with three saves.

   Darvish put USF back in front dribbling in and scoring at 28:15. Zack England pushed the USF cushion to two goals when he scored an unassisted goal at 64:44. USF despite NU finishing with a 17-8 edge in shots and 11-3 in corner kicks.

  Zach Baron and Matt Bessesen assisted the second goal by Darvish. Zach’s first point for USF. The third goal, England’s, was assisted by Brad Lohman.

  "The game started out kind of ugly," USF Mitch Ellisen recalled. "We gave them the ball, they gave it back. Then we got a PK. Zack England was played through by Ryan Crawford. The GK for Northwood came out and literally tackled Zack. The official called a PK and then Justin Darvish calmly placed the ball on the spot and finished it after the whistle.

  "A few minutes later, a misplayed ball by one of our defenders was intercepted by their forward who tied the score. Then ten minutes later, Zach Baron calmly played a ball out to our left back, Matt Bessesen, who served a ball to a wide open Darvish. Justin faked a shot that froze the defense and then shot the ball from 20 yards out into the lower corner of the goal," Ellisen added.

 With a 2-1 lead at half time, Ellisen knew the game was far from over.

  "The scouting reports I got from their former opponents, told me that they do not give up," Ellisen said. "They came out and took it too us for a few minutes, but could not crack through our defense. The defense stayed well organized and kept Northwood from getting good looks at our goal. Plus GK Nick Morken was playing with a lot of confidence and was never really challenged in the second half. Less than half way through the second half, Ryan Crawford pressed the central defender who coughed up the ball to Brad. Brad saw England sprinting down the left side of the field. He put a nice diagonal pass through the defense which England 1 touched by the GK.

  "One player you won’t read about in the stats is Ryan Crawford. When Darvish got the ball played across to him from Bessesen, Crawford made a diagonal run across the defense which opened a space for Darvish. On the second goal, Ryan chased down the ball and slid to deflect a pass that Lohman intercepted. Two very heady plays that helped us to score two goals."

   USF resumes play on Saturday at Bishop D'Arcy Stadium against Grace College at 1 p.m. the Cougars Mid-Central College Conference opener.

Northwood box score