Sept. 17, 2006

Box Score

ROMEOVILLE, Ill. - Goalkeeper Anthony Szymel registered a career-high seven saves, and Lewis made a first-half goal stand up in a thrilling 1-0 victory over Southern Illinois Edwardsville Sunday before a raucous Lewis Soccer Field crowd estimated at 500.

The victory boosted Lewis, ranked No. 5 in the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Region, to 7-1 overall and 5-1 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, and it moved Evan Fiffles one step closer to the 200-win plateau as the Flyers' head coach. Now in his 15th season, Fiffles owns a 197-77-23 (.702) record.

In a tightly bunched conference race, the Flyers are tied with Wisconsin-Parkside for second place. Drury (4-0) leads the league.

Meanwhile, SIUE (3-2-3, 3-1-1 GLVC), ranked No. 13 nationally and No. 2 in the Great Lakes Region, saw its 38-game GLVC regular-season unbeaten streak halted. Prior to Sunday, the Cougars' last regular-season conference defeat was a 1-0 loss to Missouri-St. Louis on Oct. 18, 2002.

Craig McIntosh scored the game's only goal at the 33:18 mark. McIntosh took a feed from Kipp Cartwright, who picked up his team-leading fourth assist of the season, and drilled the ball past Cougar netminder Nicholas Frasca for his second tally of the year.

Taking a first-half lead became an even bigger psychological factor in Lewis' favor because the Flyers were attacking into a significant breeze during the opening period.

Both teams had golden chances later in the first half. SIUE apparently scored the equalizer in the 38th minute, but the play was whistled offsides.

The Flyers nearly took a 2-0 lead into intermission when Anthony Marsico (Bloomingdale, Ill./Glenbard North)'s rocket shot from about 15 feet in front of the goal hit the crossbar in the 42nd minute.

Szymel, who has logged every minute in goal for the Flyers this season, preserved his fourth shutout in dramatic fashion late in the game.

The sophomore turned away two point-blank bullet shots in rapid succession at the 82-minute mark, then thwarted another Cougar scoring chance moments later by making a leaping grab of a high service intended for a hard-charging SIUE attacker.

Cory Mastey also made a game-saving defensive play with 9 minutes left. With Szymel out of the goal mouth, Mastey deflected an SIUE strike that was headed for the back of the net.

Frasca made five saves for the Cougars, whose 20-15 advantage in total shots and 8-6 edge in shots on goal went for naught. Mastey, the GLVC leader in shots per game, took six of Lewis' 15 attempts.

The Flyers play at Missouri-Rolla on Friday.