Friday, October 18, 2002

Centenary, which will begin Mid-Continent Conference play next season, handed Valparaiso a 5-2 loss on a cold, rainy, windy afternoon at Eastgate Field on Friday afternoon.

Michael Krulin put the Gents on the board in the 31st minute as he beat Jeff Oleck (Indianapolis, Ind./Cathedral H.S.) from ten yards out for the lone goal of the opening half.

Felipe Pereira made it 2-0 Centenary heading home a cross in the 53rd minute past Marc Cilfone (Saginaw, Mich./Heritage H.S.), who had replaced Oleck at intermission. Josh Chambers added his first goal of the season at 61:19 to increase the lead to three.

Brian Hirth (Columbia Station, Ohio/Columbia H.S.) scored his first goal of the year at 65:20 poking home a Ryan Wolin (Highland Park, Ill./Highland Park H.S.) rebound to make it 3-1.

Chambers headed in a corner kick at 73:30 to put the Gents back up by three goals, and Garret Pickard added a goal on a breakaway 3:09 later to increase Centenary's lead to 5-1.

Ben Olson (Oregon, Wis./Oregon H.S.) tallied his eighth goal of the year at 80:31 to end the scoring, putting a blast past Gents keeper Matthew Handy.

Centenary (10-3) outshot Valpo 20-11 for the match, despite the Crusaders holding a 10-4 advantage on corner kicks.

Oleck made one first half save for Valpo (5-8-1), while Cilfone made six in the second stanza.

Stefan Nicola made three saves for the Gents, but exited the game at the 55:36 mark with an injury. Handy made two saves.

The Crusaders will return to action next Saturday afternoon when they travel to Oakland for a 1:30 p.m. CDT match against the Golden Grizzlies.