DePaul Claims First Victory on Huth’s Overtime Winner

Wednesday, March 10

Cincinnati, Ohio

Noon CT

DePaul University

1-2-2 (1-2)

Xavier

3-4 (0-2)

DePaul

Xavier

DePaul Claims First Victory on Huth’s Overtime Winner

3/10/2021 2:03:00 PM | MEN'S SOCCER

Box Score

The freshman’s overtime heroics lift the Blue Demons to a win on Wednesday afternoon

CINCINNATI, Ohio – With just three minutes remaining in overtime, DePaul men's soccer freshman Jacob Huth tipped a pass and tucked in the game-winning goal to defeat Xavier 3-2 in Cincinnati on Wednesday afternoon. DePaul freshman Marek Gonda netted his first career goal to open the scoring and senior Timmy Iscra headed home a free kick attempt by Omar Ramadan to tie the match at two in the 61st minute.

"I'm so proud of our guys for earning the 3 points today," said head coach Mark Plotkin. "Drew Nuelle came up huge for us in goal to give us the chance to win. It was great to see the young guys step up and make some big plays in all three goals."

With no score in the 32nd minute, the ball ended up in the vicinity of Gonda who, with his back to the net, sent in a high shot off of a volley that dipped behind the Musketeer goalkeeper and into the goal. Gonda, a Schaumburg, Ill. native who was a frequent goal-scorer at the high school and club level, tallied his first collegiate score.

The Musketeers quickly responded with a goal just two minutes later then were able to score a momentum-swinging tally with just seconds remaining in the half. The score that put Xavier on top 2-1 came off of a long overhead through ball that was tipped over DePaul goalkeeper Drew Nuelle and into the net.

15 minutes into the second half, Xavier was whistled for a foul on the edge of the box and DePaul prepared for a free kick. Freshman midfielder Omar Ramadan sent a right-footed shot towards the goal that Iscra was able to get his head on. The ball found the back of the net to equalize the match at two. The score was Iscra's third of his career and first since the 2017 campaign.

"We talked a lot this week about being more aggressive on service and Timmy responded in a great way by getting us on track with the tying goal," said Plotkin.

The two sides remained scoreless for the rest of regulation and the match headed to overtime. In the 90 minutes of regulation, Xavier outshot DePaul 13-7 and Nuelle made five saves and kept the Musketeers scoreless in the second half.

With time running down in the second half of overtime, Huth was deep in the Xavier end as the Musketeers' defensive line was attempting to move the ball. Huth deflected the ball in a passing lane, took a quick touch, and deposited a low shot into the bottom left corner to give the Blue Demons the win.

DePaul's victory is its first of the season and first in BIG EAST play since a 2-0 win over Providence on Alumni Day on October 19, 2019.

"We're a young team that continues to learn and grow each game," said Plotkin. "We're excited to be back home on Wish to face a tough Creighton team Saturday."

UP NEXT

DePaul hosts Creighton on Saturday, March 13 at 1:00 p.m. CT at Wish Field in Lincoln Park.

For all of the latest on DePaul Men's Soccer, stay tuned to depaulbluedemons.com and follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.