Saturday, September 02, 2006

D.J. Catrow (Springfield, Ohio/Catholic Central) scored twice in the first 17 minutes and the Brown and Gold withstood a relentless UC-Davis attack in the second half for a 3-2 win Saturday night at the Copa de Causeway Tournament in Davis, Calif., moving to 3-0 on the season for the first time since 1987.

No Crusader team has ever begun a year 4-0, and Valpo is halfway to its win total for all of last season, thanks in no small part to the senior Catrow's first two tallies of the season Saturday night.

Valpo's leader in shots through the first two matches of the year, Catrow was held scoreless last weekend in home wins over DePaul and Evansville. Saturday, the Ohio State transfer got the scoring started in the eighth minute, putting home a Jeremy Stacy (Grand Rapids, Mich./Forest Hills Central) pass to make it 1-0. The assist was the second of the season for Stacy and the 11th of the senior's career, moving him into a tie with Catrow for 7th on the all-time assist list.

Less than 10 minutes later, in the 17th minute, Catrow struck again powering a loose ball past Aggie keeper Charles Warne to make it 2-0. Catrow's goal was his 10th in only three seasons at Valpo, and made him one of only five Crusaders in school history with at least 10 career goals and 10 assists.

After UC-Davis got on the board in the 19th minute, J.J. Eschenburg (Edgewood, N.M./Moriarty) pushed the Crusaders back in front, following up an Andrew Stewart (Buffalo Grove, Ill./Stevenson) header in the 25th minute. The assist was the first point of Stewart's career, and proved to be a big one when Paul Cain tallied late in the second half for UC-Davis (2-2) to make it a one-goal match.

The Crusaders were out-shot an eye-popping 33-6 overall, including 18-0 in the second half. But freshman keeper Ryan Schwarz (Rockford, Ill./Boylan Catholic) was large in goal again, making a career-best 10 saves, seven in the second 45 minutes. Schwarz has now made 19 saves in the first three matches of his career and possesses a very solid 1.90 goals against average.

Paul Leitelt (Munster, Ind./Munster) who scored four goals in the opening weekend and earned several National Player of the Week awards, was held without a shot for the first time this season. Catrow led the Crusaders with two shots, including half of Valpo's four on goal.

Valpo (3-0) can post the record-breaking fourth straight season-opening win on Monday against Sacramento State in Sacramento, Calif. The Crusaders will also win the Copa de Causeway Tournament with a victory, which would also mark the first time in program history a Valpo club had won every match at an in-season tournament. That match Monday is scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m. Central Time.

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