Press Release written by Nathan Foltz
ORANGEBURG, N.Y. - - It was a battle for the 16th-ranked Wilmington University men's soccer team, but they pulled away in the end to beat Dominican, 3-2, on Saturday at O'Brien Field, scoring in the 88th minute for the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference victory.
With the victory, the Wildcats move to 4-0-2 and 1-0-1 against CACC opponents in 2025, while the Chargers fall to 1-4-1 overall and 1-1-0 in conference play.
Wilmington bombarded Dominican early, taking the game's first six shots, though none of them found the back of the net. It took until the 34th minute for one to finally go through, and it came off the foot of Theo Faillon on a penalty kick. Alex Tarway was fouled at the very top of the box, prompting Faillon to take the first penalty kick attempt of the year for the team. The goal was Faillon's third on the year and his ninth penalty goal overall as a Wildcat, building on the school record of eight he set last season.
Dominican answered with a goal of their own in the 43rd minute just before the half, then kept the momentum going with another goal in the 47th minute to take the lead.
Fourteen minutes later the Wildcats had their response, as Theo Faillon again got involved in the action. Faillon passed a short corner to Jacques Mason, who passed it right back to Faillon. The reigning East Region Player of the Year brought the ball to the top of the box before playing it in front of the goal, where Tyrese Small was waiting to poke it off a Charger defender with his right foot into the net.
After the next shot of the game was taken by Dominican, Wilmington reeled off nine unanswered of their own to keep the pressure on. Then, in the 87th minute, Ole Themsfeldt took a corner from the nearside. His kick went over the leaping goalie and fell to the ground, where Jacques Mason seized the opportunity and hit it into the bottom of the net for the score. The Wildcats played strong defense to hold the lead in the final two-plus minutes, giving the men's and women's teams a combined sweep of Dominican on the day.
Wilmington outshot Dominican 28-11, with 11 on goal for the Wildcats and four on goal for the Chargers. Wilmington also led in corners, 9-4.
The Wildcats will travel to Millersville next, with a 7:00 p.m. kickoff slated for Wednesday evening against the Marauders.