Oct. 12, 2007

Box Score

ROMEOVILLE, Ill. - First-half goals from junior Jorge De Jesus and sophomore Nestor Hernandez lifted the Lewis Flyers to a 2-1 win over Drury, Friday afternoon in a tense game between two of the hottest teams in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

The Flyers, winners of four straight games, improved to 11-4 (7-4 GLVC). Drury, ranked seventh in the region, slipped to 12-4 (6-4 GLVC) and had its six-game win streak snapped.

De Jesus notched Lewis' first goal just 4:18 into the game. Junior Craig McIntosh brought the ball up on the right side and sent a cross into the box. Hernandez, stationed a few yards out in front of the right corner of the goal as the pass came in, faked a shot and let the ball go by untouched to De Jesus, who blasted it in from three yards out just left of center.

Hernandez didn't fake on the Flyers' next goal. Coming up with a loose ball about 20 yards in front of the net, Hernandez avoided the challenge of Drury goal keeper Cesar Cereijo, charged around the left side and kicked the ball between a Drury defender who was tending the net and Cereijo who was late getting back into position. The goal came at 25:33.

Junior goalkeeper Anthony Szymel kept the Panthers off the board the rest of the half.

Drury's lone tally came at 46:50 of the second half on a free kick. A Lewis foul just outside of the top of the penalty box gave Drury's Marco Cherisma a prime chance. The GLVC's leading scorer took advantage, burying a shot into the right side for his 17th tally of the season.

Fortunately for the Lewis, Cherisma couldn't find the back of the net twice. He took five of his team's eight shots, but put only one more on goal.

The play was highly physical throughout the game, especially in the second half as Drury frantically tried to score the equalizer. Of the game's eight yellow cards, six came in the second half. Lewis was whistled for a season-high 22 fouls while Drury had 25.

Lewis out-shot the Panthers 15-8. Cereijo made six saves.

The Flyers look to make it five wins in a row on Sunday when they host Rockhurst at 2:30 p.m.