Wings beat Syracuse in overtime

PARK CITY — Four goals won’t win many indoor soccer games. But four goals were enough for the Wings to get their first win of the season Sunday.

Freddie Moojen’s overtime goal gave the Wings an 8-6 victory over Syracuse.

“I’m relieved. We worked hard and we kind of got validated a little bit for the hard work we’ve been putting in,” Wings coach LeBaron Holliman said. “I’m happy for the players.”

Defense has been a major priority for the Wings after three losses to start the season

Against Syracuse, the defense set the tone.

“We kept them to six points, and six points in an indoor game is pretty phenomenal defense,” Wings defender Kevin Ten Eyck said. “People throwing their bodies to block shots. Busting our butts to get back, running full-field sprints to stop goals and what not. It was a defensive battle.”

The Wings struck early when Tiguinho found Andrew Hoxie for a goal less than two minutes into the game. A second goal less than 30 seconds into the second period — this one from Tiguinho to Geison Moura — gave the Wings a 4-0 advantage.

Syracuse scored before halftime, an unassisted goal by Mathew Clare.

Wichita struck again early in the third quarter when Tiguinho connected with Miguel Ferrer to give the Wings a two-goal advantage.

“We had the lead and we had several opportunities to go with it,” Holliman said. “That’s the thing I look at. We got the lead but we kept going, we kept creating opportunities after we got the lead. That was the pleasing thing.”

The Silver Knights got another goal from Clare in the third quarter, and Elmo Marques Neto tied the score with 5:56 to play in regulation.

Twice in the second half the Wings had a man-advantage but failed to score.

Overtime was controlled mostly by Wichita, and Moojen’s goal midway through the period sealed it.

“Losing can become a habit, winning came be a habit,” Holliman said. “I hope we take that mentality that OK, we got the win, let’s keep going now. We know what it feels like; we know we can do it. We just keep moving from there.”

First quarter

Scoring—Wichita, Hoxie (Tiguinho), 1:31

Second quarter

Scoring—Wichita, Moura (Tiguinho), 0:28; Syracuse, Clare (unassisted), 2:25

Third quarter

Scoring—Wichita, Ferrer (Tiguinho) 2:57; Syracuse, Clare (unassisted), 6:26. Penalties—Syracuse, Neto (elbowing), 11:59; Syracuse, Neto (tripping), 14:58.

Fourth quarter

Scoring—Syracuse, Neto (Clare), 9:04

Overtime

Scoring—Wichita, Moojen (unassisted), 7:47

Shots—Syracuse 2-5-3-2-1—13; Wichita 3-6-7-4-3—23

Goalies—Syracuse, O’Quinn 15 saves on 23 shots; Wichita, Carvalho 7-13. A—2,200,