Owensboro, Ky. – The Kentucky Wesleyan men's soccer team earned their sixth win in their last eight matches with a 4-2 victory over Northwood Saturday evening at Panther Field.
The other two of those eight matches ended in draws, so the Panthers' triumph tonight pushed their win-or-draw streak to eight consecutive matches.
Northwood (0-10-5, 0-9-3) got the scoring started after an unfortunate bounce resulted in an empty net goal for the Timberwolves in the seventh minute.
The Panthers didn't wait long to respond. Jersey Lopez, taking a corner kick, delivered an impeccable pass to Jhaeem Bryan for a header score, the second of the season for Bryan.
The Timberwolves notched another goal in the 17th minute, continuing the back-and-forth affair.
Wesleyan again didn't let that momentum build. In the 27th minute, Hannes Gronevik sent a short pass to Mattie McNally, who served up a fantastic crosser to Lopez in the box for another header score, Lopez's second of 2025.
Not even 12 minutes later, the Panthers had a déjà vu corner goal. This time, Pavel Valchev connected with Braeden Myers-Curry for yet another header finish in the box, the fourth goal of the campaign for Myers-Curry.
That score would hold until halftime, and the match would get chippy in the second half. The teams combined for three yellow cards and a red card in the latter 45 minutes, on top of an additional yellow right before the break.
The Panthers effectively put the game away in the 67th minute. With assists by Valchev and Cal Nolan, Lopez earned his second header goal of the night, as well as his third of the season and Wesleyan's fourth header tally of the game, to increase the advantage to 4-2.
Wesleyan went four-for-four on their shot on goal attempts while improving to 7-2-6 overall and 7-2-2 in the G-MAC. The Panthers currently sit third in the conference, behind Cedarville (8-0-3) and Tiffin (8-1-2).
Perhaps the Panthers' biggest match of the season, and possibly their biggest regular season match in quite some time as a program, is coming up on Wednesday, October 29, against those Cedarville Yellow Jackets, who are currently ranked ninth in the United Soccer Coaches Top 25. The match is set to begin at 7:30 PM and will be streamed live from Panther Field on FloCollege.
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