Box Score SOUTHFIELD, Mich.- The Lawrence Technological University (Mich.) men's soccer team was crowned champion of the 2018 Blue Devil Classic after defeating Huntington University (Ind.) with a score of 2-1 in the Championship Game earlier today. The Blue Devil made an extraordinary come back with two goals scored by Chris Serwatka (SR/Troy, Mich.) after starting down on the scoreboard.
LTU outshoot the Foresters 12-8, with three on the first half, seven on the second, and two on over-time. However, both teams had the same amount of shots on goal, fours. Goalkeeper Maxwell Jewett (JR/Sterling Heights, Mich.) played a very good game, as he recorded three saves. The performance of both teams was so even throughout the game that there was a certain degree of tension between them, which was manifested on the 26 fouls and seven warnings given during the almost 97 minutes of play.
The Foresters went up on the scoreboard in the 11th minute when Noah Fleming took advantage of a badly blocked shot and pushed the ball to the back of the net to give HU the 1-0 lead. During the following 20 minutes, the Blue Devils tried to even out the game but were not able to score. In the 32nd minute, Serwatka shot to the top right corner of the goal from 40 yards away after an assist from Sean Humphries (FR/Benoni, South Africa) to tie the game 1-1.
During the second half, the Blue Devils continued creating opportunities to win the game but were not able to convert them to goals. LTU had seven shot and two corner kicks. At the end of the 90 minutes, the teams went for a tiebreak. The format of the tiebreak was golden-goal, which means that the team to first-score in any of the two over-time 10-minute halves wins the game. The third goal of the game, and the one that gave LTU the victory, was scored by Serwatka in the 96th minute of the game when he shot to the bottom left corner of the goal after being assisted by Alvaro Garcia (JR/Mallorca, Spain).
This is the second time LTU wins the Blue Devil Classic, the first one being on the 2016-17 season. Lawrence Tech asked Head Coach Will Dyer for his thoughts on the game. Here is what he had to say about the match:
"We got back to basics. Played simple which created opportunities for us. We fell down early but Chris had an amazing laser beam shot in the first [goal]. Huntington is a very strong team with one of the top coaches and staff in the nation. We stayed at it, trusted the process and got a win. Now we prepare for Robert Morris".
LTU will be back on the field on September 12 at 7:00 PM against Robert Morris University (Ill.)in Chicago, Ill.
