Men's Soccer: Denison drops 1-0 decision to Wilmington College

In a physical battle between two tough squads, Wilmington College tallied a second half goal to edge the Denison men's soccer team 1-0 on Barclay-Thomsen Field in Granville on Saturday night.

Both teams had a very physical first half of play. Even though the half ended in a 0-0 tie, both teams posed solid scoring opportunities.

At the 16:30 mark, Ramma Sharifi almost gave the Quakers the lead but his shot from 20 yards out sailed over the goal. With 15 minutes remaining in the opening half sophomore Zach Gaines (Cincinnati, Ohio/Finneytown) had a cross deflect off his foot right in front of the goal. The Big Red had another quality scoring chance with just under eight minutes left in the first when freshman Preston Wagner (Toronto, Ontario/TASIS American School (UK) booted a Gaines cross off the cross bar.

Wilmington broke the scoreless tie in the 68th minute when Michael Kiszkiel settled a Cayleb Paulino pass and fired a shot past both the defender and Denison goalkeeper Kevin Donahue (Riverside, Conn./Greenwich).

DU midfielder Peter Shorten (Hudson, Ohio/Western Reserve Academy) had a pair of scoring opportunities in the latter stages of the second half, but solid defense and net minding preserved the Wilmington victory.

The Big Red outshot the Quakers 15-7 in the losing effort. Both Donahue and Wilmington's goalkeeper Aaron Slusher made two saves.

Denison (3-3-1) returns to action Wednesday (Sept. 24) when they host Otterbein at 4:30 p.m.