After missing two matches last weekend due to attending his grandfather’s funeral, junior forward Adam Worrall (left) wasted little time in making his presence felt in the MVNU attack as he headed in a cross from senior defender Matt Wilging to put the Cougars (6-2-0, 1-0-0 AMC South) in front 1-0 in the 12th minute. The goal was Worrall’s team-leading sixth tally of the year.

In the 40th minute, freshman forward Rockey Cane (below right) extended the lead to 2-0 as he slipped a shot between the legs of Ryan Michaels, the Blue Knights’ goalie, for his first collegiate goal. Sophomore midfielder Chris Mast was credited with an assist on the play.

The lead grew to 3-0 midway through the second half when sophomore defender Brady Swanson headed in a corner kick by senior midfielder Adam Pelak for his first career goal in the 77th minute.

In the 82nd minute, junior forward Sheldon Tugman took a cross from freshman midfielder Nick Bryan and scored his second goal of the season to increase the lead to 4-0.

Then, one minute later, Worrall capped off the scoring with his second goal of the day and his seventh of the season when he took a pass from senior forward Steven Lesmes and ripped a shot into the back of the net to make it 5-0.

“It felt good to play again after basically two weeks off,” said Worrall, who has nearly doubled his scoring output from all of last season when he had four goals. “I had a lot of fun out there today, and our team played really well. This was probably one of the best games we have had all year, and it was great to see Brady and Rockey get their first career goals and Nick get his first career assist.”

“We have a really solid squad with a lot of people who are capable of stepping up for us,” added Worrall, who decided to switch his uniform number prior to the match and will now wear the No. 9 uniform previously worn by senior Seth Taylor, who suffered a season-ending injury last Saturday. “I was glad that I was able to honor Seth a little bit by doing well in his uniform today, but I really feel for him as he has to miss the rest of his senior year. The great thing is that a lot of guys stepped up today to fill that void, and we need to do that the rest of the year.”

It was more than enough offensive support for MVNU as sophomore goalkeeper Alex Stout and the Cougars’ defense limited Urbana (2-4-2, 0-1-0 AMC South) to just three total shots and none on goal in posting the team’s third shutout of the year. Michaels finished with three saves for the Blue Knights.

“Today was one of those days that everything seemed to come together,” said MVNU head coach Paul Furey. “We played extraordinarily well and were able to get the results in the final third. We played solid, organized defense. We probably could not have asked for better performance for us at this point in our season.”

“It was good to have Adam back and scoring some quality goals for us,” Furey added. “We also had guys coming off the bench and contributing like Rockey and Sheldon. As nice of a win as this is, we now have to prepare for a tough challenge on Tuesday. Our guys are playing a bit inspired in the absence of their team captain (Seth), and I hope that the type of heart we demonstrated today will be something we continue throughout the rest of the year.”

The Cougars will travel to Notre Dame College on Tuesday night for a non-conference match that will kick off at 7:00 p.m. The Falcons are currently 6-1-1 overall and ranked third in NAIA Region IX. They have also claimed at least a share of the past three AMC North Division titles.