Pioneers pull away from Royals with big second half

ARDEN HILLS, Minn. – After a slow start, the University of Wisconsin-Platteville men's soccer team pulled away from a 1-1 halftime tie at Bethel University by stacking up four unanswered goals in the second 45 minutes. The Pioneers' (10-2-2) 5-1 victory against Bethel (8-6-1) takes the unbeaten streak to 12. 

"We had to deal with adversity to start the game and started to get back into stride in the second half," said Director of Soccer Sam Koenig. "It is hard to win on the road and we are happy to be able to say we won the day! As we go into another tough week – we have to be locked in to continue our winning ways!"

Although UW-Platteville outshot Bethel 10-3 in the first half, sophomore Jack Gentilli's goal in the 22^nd minute and Keegan Mellema's in the 29^th minute would send the teams into halftime tied 1-1. 

The Pioneers composed themselves during the break and Gentilli struck once again in the 48^th minute with an assist by Mitch Reid for the go-ahead goal. 

The Pioneers doubled the lead eight minutes later when a shot by freshman Lucas Godan was deflected, but freshman Michael Schaefer was there to fire off another shot which found the back of the net. The scoring spree continued and junior Nate Staral extended the Pioneers' lead to 4-1 at the 64:40 mark. One minute later, freshman Isaac Petersen tallied the final goal of the game with an assist by Gentilli. 

Overall, UW-Platteville outshot the Royals 21-5 in addition to holding a 7-1 corner kick advantage. 

Freshman Chase Werner tallied one save while Juan Valdivia Cortes registered three for Bethel. 

The busy week of competition will continue on Tuesday when the Pioneers travel to Augustana for a 7 p.m. start.