Box Score

KALAMAZOO, MI – Visiting Hartwick College opened the scoring and held a 1-0 lead at halftime but two second half goals 9:59 apart for Western Michigan was the difference in a 2-1 Broncos' victory in Mid-American Conference action Sunday afternoon at Kalamazoo College's Mackenzie Field.
           
The setback for the Hawks puts qualification for the MAC Tournament in peril with three games remaining on the schedule. 'Wick has Akron and Buffalo at home and the team wraps up on the road at Florida Atlantic.
           
Marc Russell (Glasgow, Scotland/Woodfarm) scored for Hartwick in the 18^th minute to give his side the early advantage. Russell Oost-Lievense (Westport, CT/Staples) and Tim Crawford (Webster, NY/Webster Thomas) picked up assists on the play.
           
Senior forward Cleyon Brown (Kingston, Jamaica/Berkshire School) played a ball from the corner back to Oost-Lievense roughly 30 yards from goal. He served the ball into the box to Crawford who found Russell in front. Russell took a touch, and calmly slotted home to the lower left of the goal past WMU goalkeeper Sean Lewis for the lead.
           
Russell's goal, his fourth overall, marks the third time he has found the net in Hartwick's last four games. The assist for Oost-Lievense was his team-leading fifth of the season.
           
The Hawks were able to withstand pressure from the Broncos for the rest of the half. Western Michigan held a 9-3 edge in shots over the final 15 minutes of the half. Hartwick keeper Tom Buckner (Oxford, England/Henley College) was called upon to make two saves in the time frame.
           
“Western Michigan threw a lot at us in the first half,” said Hartwick coach John Scott. “They put a lot of pressure on us and played some dangerous balls into the box but we were able to get out of the half without conceding anything. We were probably fortunate to be up a goal.”
           
The determined Broncos, playing on WMU Senior Day, continued to press for the tying goal early in the second half. They earned four corners and fired off four shots in the opening nine minutes. Finally their persistence paid off at the 64:51 mark off a corner. WMU's Jason Grant drove a ball into the Hartwick box and it skimmed off a Hartwick defender's head and into the goal past Buckner and the game was tied.
           
The match stayed deadlocked over the next 10 minutes until 15:10 remained in the game. An aerial ball in the Hartwick box was knocked down and a scrum for the ball ensued. In the referee's judgment, he saw a Hartwick foul and awarded the Broncos a penalty kick.
           
Senior Shane Lyons, WMU's top scorer this season, converted the penalty to give his team the vital 2-1 lead.
           
The Hawks would not surrender over the final 10 minutes of action as they outshot WMU 6-0 with a pair of corner kicks. But 'Wick could not get on the end of any of its chances in the span and the Broncos came away with the victory.
           
“It was disappointing to concede the goals that we did,” added Scott. “But we responded very well after their second goal. We took the game right at them as we tried to get level. We just couldn't convert.”  
           
With the loss, the Hawks drop to 3-2-4 against the Broncos all-time and 0-2-1 in the last three meetings. The Hawks next host nationally third ranked Akron on Saturday, October 27 at 3 p.m. on Elmore Field.
           
“We've put ourselves in a situation where we need to come away from Saturday's game with a favorable result to have a chance at the playoffs,” Scott said.
           
Hartwick has a history of playing the Zips tough. On their last trip to Elmore, the Hawks led 1-0 in the second half. Only a late penalty kick allowed AU, which went on to win the NCAA Championship, to escape with a win.