Playing through a rainy afternoon at Highmark Stadium, the Point Park men’s soccer team defeated Oakland City University 3-2 and are now 2-0 in conference play.
The Pioneers entered the game coming off of a 10-0 victory over Brescia in their first conference game of the season on Thursday night.
The Pioneers were looking for a little revenge on Saturday, as the last meeting between Point Park and Oakland City was on November 7 in the first round of the River States Conference (RSC) Playoffs where Oakland City was victorious 2-1.
Junior forward Genildo Postimo opened the scoring at 27:35 in the first half, scoring his third goal of the season. Senior midfielder Jaume Genovard kicked a high pass from near the right corner of the field to the front of the goal. As Postimo received the pass, Oakland City goalkeeper Jacob Robinson closed in on him, giving Postimo enough open space to put it in the back of the net.
Point Park extended their lead with less than three minutes left in the first half as leading scorer, senior Phillip Harder, headed in a pass from freshman Nils Benning. Harder’s goal now puts him atop the RSC as the leading goal scorer with eight goals in the season. Benning, meanwhile, is tied for second in assists in the RSC with four.
Oakland City sophomore Pablo Herrero Belmon cut the deficit to one early in the second half on a goal assisted by senior Ben Soto Abarca.
The Pioneers spent much of the second half in the defensive end, but were able to get a little bit of insurance with just less than ten minutes to go in the game when Genovard and Postimo connected again, with Genovard being the goal scorer this time making it 3-1 Pioneers. Postimo was later named the Pioneers’ Man of the Match.
The Mighty Oaks made a late push on an unassisted goal from junior defender Ian Cowie at 88:18 of the second half, but it wasn’t enough and the Pioneers were able to hold on for the 3-2 victory.
Point Park will be back in action on Saturday at 4:30 pm when they travel to Eaton High School to face off against Indiana University East.
