The University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) men's soccer team outlasted Maryville University in a 1-0 victory during Friday's Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) opener at Kiwanis Stadium.
 
"It's an important win for us," UIS coach Adam Hall said. "We have played well in almost every match, but have had some misfortune. [Friday], we weren't at our best, but we showed some spirit and I'm very proud of our team. It was a very difficult match and we had to be brave."
 
UIS (2-2-1, 1-0) and Maryville (1-2-1, 0-1) battled each other at a highly physical level. The Prairie Stars topped the Saints in a 2-0 victory on the road last season, which was also a match with intense physicality.
 
"[Friday] was a game about who wanted it more," UIS defender Edward Rose commented. "We showed passion, determination and hunger, and that's why we won the game."
 
"It was a tough game, a lot of tackles, high balls, a lot of fights in the air and lots of shots from both sides," UIS goalkeeper Pijus Petkevicius added.
 
Maryville came out of the gates with its first scoring opportunity. During the second minute, Gavino Carranza provided a corner kick. Iwan Webster produced a header, but Petkevicius came up with the save.
 
The Saints nearly found the scoreboard during the 13th minute as Eyob Tadesse fired a 30-yard serve into the box and Rasmus Tauts provided a header deflection, but the shot went just barely to the left of the goal.
 
During the 36th minute, UIS cleared a 50-50 ball. Maryville regained possession of the ball and was given a shooting range created by the 50-50 ball. JD Sohn made an attempt to chip the keeper from 50 yards out, but the shot went high.
 
UIS took a 1-0 lead 58 minutes into the match. Fernando Sanz de Galdeano flicked a pass to Mario Falsone, creating driving room for Falsone. As defenders started to converge onto Falsone, Falsone dumped a pass off to an open Mario Gonzalez and Gonzalez found the back of the net. Gonzalez's goal was the first of his collegiate career.
 
"I'm very happy to score and help the team," Gonzalez admitted. "It's great to get our first conference win. We did a great job on the field.
 
The Prairie Stars played almost the final five minutes with 10 men on the field, but still managed to thwart the comeback effort of an aggressive Maryville offense.
 
Josh Moore and Thiago Fernandes turned in two shots apiece for the Prairie Stars while Gonzalez, Daniel Kemp, Alex Morais and Adrian Ortega each added shots. Gonzalez and Fernandes each provided a shot on goal. Falsone is tied for third among UIS Division II career leaders in both points (23) and assists (5).
 
Karimi Zulfikar led the Saints with four shots. Sohn, Tadesse, Cedric Sengi and Helmut Florencia contributed two shots apiece while Webster, Pontus Gitselov, Tauts, Carranza and Ricardo Andradae each registered shots.
 
Petkevicius tallied seven saves in his first shutout of his collegiate career.
 
Maryville's Christi Kjaersgaard faced two shots and came up with one save.
 
The Saints outshot the Prairie Stars 17-8 and held an 8-2 advantage in shots on target.
 
"Our team is very happy to get out with a victory and a clean sheet after such a hard and intense game," Petkevicius acknowledged. "We are back on a winning track and will fight in next game even more to get that W."
 
UIS challenges Rockhurst University (1-2-1, 0-0-1) in a conference matchup on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. in Kansas City, Mo.