From University of Chicago Athletics
Two goals by Kameron Bloye highlighted an offensive flurry that propelled the University of Chicago men's soccer team to a 4-1 win over Dominican (Ill.) University in Friday's opening round of the NCAA Division III Tournament.
The victory puts the Maroons (11-1-5) into Saturday's 4 p.m. CT regional final, where they will face the winner of host Hope College and Ohio Wesleyan.
Though Bloye led in scoring, it was sophomore Vicente Mateus who got the Maroons on the board first, and early. Capitalizing on perfect cross off the line from Isaiah Holtquist, Mateuse beat the defense on the right side of the box to make it 1-0, UChicago, in just the 6' of play.
The Stars (16-2-3) would answer, though, to make it interesting in the first frame. Issac Perez connected in the 30' to knot the score at 1-all, but Bloye would give his squad the lead heading into the break.
After UChicago's Michael Johnson sent in a shot from the right side that deflected off a Dominican defender, junior Ben Brandt settled the ball in front of the box and immediately found Bloye to the left post, who finished at point-blank range in the 42' to make it 2-1, Maroons.
The second half proved to be all UChicago, as Kyle Ruark broke an offensive spell for his first goal of the season in the 61'. Mateus threaded a perfect ball to a sprinting Ruark, who chipped the ball over the Dominican goalkeeper to push the lead to 3-1.
Mateuse completed his stellar offensive day with his final assists, as the junior's shot from the right side deflected off the keeper and bounced to Bloye, who took the ball out of the air and delivered a dart inside the right post for UChicago's fourth score of the match.
The Maroons dominated on the shot total, 19-8, including 11-4 on goal. Bloye had nine shots (five on goal) to lead UChicago, who also had three corner kicks to the Stars' 1.
Junior keeper Aaron Katsimpalis had three saves to earn his 11th win of the year.