The first half of the match was scoreless for the first 42 minutes with MVNU (10-3-2, 6-1-2 AMC) holding a slim 5-4 edge in total shots. Then, in the 43rd minute, senior forward Adam Worrall (left) stole the ball from a Panther defender, maneuvered through the rest of the defense, and ripped a hard shot through Ohio Dominican goalkeeper Eric Pfeifer and into the back of the net just 2:41 before the half as the Cougars took a 1-0 lead. The goal was Worrall’s team-leading 15th of the season in 15 matches and the 37th of his illustrious career as he took over fifth place on the school’s all-tie scoring list.

With time winding down in the first half, senior forward Sheldon Tugman came in for MVNU off the bench and ran on to a long punt by sophomore goalie Alex Stout. Tugman beat a defender and ripped a hard shot that Pfeifer was able to make a nice save on to keep the score 1-0 as the teams headed to the break.

The Cougars were able to tack on an insurance goal in the 53th minute when junior midfielder Chris Mast headed in a cross from sophomore midfielder Cody Snouffer, who had beaten his defender down the left flank, to extend the lead to 2-0. The goal was the first of the year for Mast, while Snouffer notched his second assist of the season.

That lead would hold up as MVNU finished with a 13-11 advantage in total shots and a 7-5 edge in shots on goal. Junior goalkeeper Alex Stout (right) stopped five shots for the Cougars as he notched his eighth shutout of the season. It was also the 20th shutout of his career as he tied former MVNU standout Trevor Knowles’ school record of 20 career shutouts set from 1999-2002. Meanwhile, Pfeifer posted five saves for the Panthers (5-5-2, 2-3-1 AMC).

“This was a very important conference win for us,” said MVNU coach Paul Furey. “To beat Ohio Dominican on the road is pretty tough task and to do it when they had their backs against the wall in some regards makes it that much more of an impressive win for us. They are a very good team and are very quick. We withstood a lot of their dangerous attack early on, but to get (a goal) at the end of the first half was a huge lift for us.”

“When Adam turns it on, which he does at some point in every match, he just elevates his play to such a point that he takes the match into his own hands,” said Furey. “He has done that a number of times this year and it has really propelled us to some important wins. Alex also came up huge tonight as he made two incredible saves and stopped a very potent Ohio Dominican team. Our back line was also tough - it was another great team effort. Everyone who got into the match contributed something special and that all combined to help us win a big match.”

The Cougars will have the weekend off before returning the field to host NCAA Division II No. 6 Ashland University (12-0-1) next Tuesday in a non-conference match at Cougar Field starting at 4:00 p.m.

“We’ll look forward to having the weekend off and then we will come back looking forward to playing a team that is ranked in the Top 10 in NCAA Division II,” said Furey.