Plainsmen defeat Mustangs 4-2

Northeastern Men's Soccer (9-4-1, 6-0-0) won their sixth consecutive Region IX Conference match against Western Wyoming Community College on Friday, Oct. 4, 2019, with a 4-2 victory.

The Plainsmen began the day securely in second place in Region IX and riding a regular-season home winning streak of 18 matches stretching back to Sept. 19, 2017. After 23 minutes sophomore Wissem Obeid neatly slipped his shot past a rushing goalkeeper to score his third goal of the season and give Northeastern the 1-0 lead. It was the perfectly weighted through ball assist from sophomore Quentin Hornung (seven assists) that set up Obeid.

Northeastern's control over the match would continue in the 29th minute when freshman Nino Egli scored his first collegiate goal on assists by freshman Milan Diklic and freshman Scott Philip Woods (seven assists). The goal would give the Plainsmen a 2-0 halftime lead.
The Plainsmen turned to their bench in the second half to finish the match. Northeastern conceded their first home goal of since Sept. 20 within the first minute of the half.

Northeastern would take back control in the 64th minute when sophomore Juan Macias was tackled in the box to award a penalty kick to the Plainsmen. Sophomore Zak Khouiel would bury his chance into the lower right corner, officially marking his return to the lineup after his leg fracture in April.

Just two minutes later after a strong series of team possession, Obeid played an assist to Hornung, the team's point leader (25), who scored his seventh goal in nine matches to claim a comfortable 4-1 lead. In the 83rd minute, Western Wyoming scored their second goal when a saved free-kick was knocked in on a rebound. Northeastern outshot their opponent 25 to 4 in the victory.

Starting freshman goalkeeper Maarten Ritsema earned the win and gave up one goal and made two saves. In his fourth appearance of the season, sophomore Heart Mwalimo collected three saves in 18 minutes of action.