Box Score LINK – ASHLAND UNIVERSITY MEN'S SOCCER PAGE
THE TURNING POINT: Saginaw Valley State scored the first goal of the game in the 14th minute en route to posting the home victory.
STAT OF THE DAY: Ashland senior goalkeeper Nick Ciraldo has played every minute in the nets for the Eagles in the first five games of 2016, making 30 saves.
Playing its third Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game in five days, Ashland University's men's soccer team lost 6-0 at Saginaw Valley State on Sunday (Sept. 18) afternoon.
"We've learned a great deal in a short space of time this past week," said Ashland head coach Oliver Slawson. "Playing three games in the space of five days is never ideal, but to do it against three of the four teams that made it to our conference finals last season, and then two games away from home against nationally-ranked sides, compounded our fate.
"It would have been easy to come away this weekend and just sit in and bunker down and hope to manage the score line by defending for 90 minutes, we wouldn't have gained anything in terms of finding out where we are as a team and where we want to be in terms of a playing style. We exposed ourselves by attempting to build the game still, and we learned that against the top sides in the nation at this level, we've got plenty of growing still to do."
The Eagles are 2-3 overall and 1-3 in the GLIAC, while the Cardinals, the conference favorite in the 2016 GLIAC Men's Soccer Preseason Poll, improves to 4-2, 2-2 with their second win in three days.
Jordan Kalk began the scoring for SVSU in the 14th minute, then Matt Wilson followed with goals in the 27th and 42nd minutes to give the Cardinals a 3-0 halftime lead.
In the second half, Max Winterton (50th minute), Roderic Green (64th minute) and Griffin Parks (82nd minute) scored goals for Saginaw Valley State.
"It's expected, it's our fifth week together," Slawson said. "The first year of our program's absence, today's opponents were playing in a National Championship game. That's a perspective I and the players cannot lose sight of. We've come a long way in a short space of time. This weekend was a reminder and a dose of reality to how far we still have to go.
"Wednesday cannot come soon enough."
UP NEXT: Ashland will return to the road for a non-conference game on Wednesday (Sept. 21) at 4 p.m. at Malone (1-4-1).
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