Minneapolis, MN -- North Central University (NCU) men's soccer took to the pitch for another Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) contest with the visiting Northland University of Minnesota Morris (UMM) Cougars. Last year, the Rams had the Cougars number as they went 2-0 in their pair of regular season meetings. Tonight, North Central was outshot 21-9 by the Cougars and had 4 more shots on goal. Despite this disparity, the Rams found a way to win as sophomore Alvin Wlejleh scored two goals, bringing his season total to 5 and giving NCU the 2-1 victory. Goalkeeper Peyton Carselowey played lights out in net as the freshman made 8 saves on the evening. 

The Rams jumped on the attack early as North Central fired two shots on goal in the first two minutes that the Morris keeper would coral. In the 4th minute of the game, NCU keeper Peyton Carselowey would come out of the box to challenge a Cougar forward a little too aggressively, resulting in a yellow card for stopping a promising attack. For the next 15 minutes, the Rams goalkeeper would be under siege as he saw 10 total shots and was forced to make 3 key saves. In the 34th minute of action, Kefeyen Tita found Alvin Wlejeh at the top of the box, who then fired a shot that found the top of the goal to put the Rams up 1-0. North Central eventually took that lead into halftime. 

To start period number two, it did not take long at all for the Cougars to find their answer as they scored in the 46th minute to knot things at 1-1. For a while, North Central struggled to get anything going offensively until midfielder Rodrigo Burgos found freshman Adan Villarreal who in turn found the screaming NCU forward in Alvin Wlejeh for his second goal of the match to put his team up 2-1. This would be Wlejleh's 5th goal of the year and Villarreal's first career assist. The rest of the match, freshman Peyton Carselowey continued to make highlight real saves as the 6'1" keeper used his length to fly all around the net. Carselowey made 8 saves on the evening to hold off the Cougars and give his Rams the 2-1 win.

Today's box score can be found here.


Looking Ahead:

Men's Soccer returns to Elliot Park Field for their Senior Day matchup with Crown College this Saturday, October 5th at 4:30pm. The Rams will be celebrating their lone senior Diego Zavala Varela before the game. 

All fans are encouraged to tune into the official Rams Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter (X) pages for updates on men's soccer and all things NCU Athletics.