Blue Demons Come Up Just Short at Western Illinois

Sunday, August 14

Macomb, Ill.

5:00 PM

DePaul University

Western Illinois

Junior forward Simon Megally led the Blue Demons last season in points and was second in goals.

Blue Demons Come Up Just Short at Western Illinois

8/14/2016 12:00:00 AM | MEN'S SOCCER

Aug. 14, 2016

Box Score

MACOMB, Ill. - In their first competition against someone besides their own teammates, both DePaul and perennial Summit League contender Western Illinois came out in a flurry on Sunday.

Both teams combined to score three times in the first 10 minutes as the Blue Demons came up short 2-1 in their exhibition season-opener at Mackenzie Alumni Field.

The Leathernecks' Tahir Aziz opened the scoring 65 seconds into match, firing in a deflection off DePaul goalkeeper Quentin Low after a shot by 2015 Summit League Player of the Year Drew Whalen.

In the third minute, All-BIG EAST midfielder Simon Megally retaliated for the Blue Demons with an unassisted goal. It was Megally's goal in the 86^th minute that gave his team a 3-2 win over Western Illinois in last year's exhibition at Wish Field.

Aziz struck again in the 10^th minute, converting a through ball from Whalen into the game-winning goal.

DePaul outshot WIU 14-11 and came away with a 5-4 edge in shots on goal. The home side had a 7-5 advantage in corner kicks and was booked with six yellow cards to none for the Blue Demons.

Megally led coach Craig Blazer's team with four shots and two on goal. Erik Rodriguez and Philipp Koenigstein each took two shots. John Freitag, Peyton Smith and Max de Bruijne each had a shot on goal.

DePaul returns to the pitch on Aug. 21 with its exhibition season finale at Western Michigan.

Notes:

In a preview of the coming season, Megally lofted a corner kick to the 6-foot, 5-inch de Bruijne in the 35^th minute, but the freshman from the Netherlands had his header saved by WIU goalkeeper Tim Trilk.