By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Toledo, OH---The nation's top assist producer and the nation's top goal scorer hooked up to give the No. 15 Express a 3-2 win over Muskegon Community College today at the Owens Soccer Complex.
Nickyle Webber, who leads the nation in assists, crossed a ball to the nation's top goal scorer, Glenroy Miller, who put it in the net to give the Express the hard fought win.
The Express had taken a 2-0 lead into halftime with goals from Webber and Juavanie Cole before Muskegon tied it up with goals in the 51st and 74th minutes.
Cole scored on an aerial kick off a goalkeeper deflection to put the Express up 1-0 just 9:34 into the match. Webber's goal came on a header a little over six minutes later via a crossing shot from Cole.
Joshua Kleinow played the entire 90 minutes in goal for the Express and six saves.
Webber now has 10 goals and 14 assists this year, while Cole got his eighth goal and eighth assist. Miller's 22nd goal inched him closer to Sean Bucknor's single-season program record of 28 set in 2006 and 2007.
Owens improves to 11-3-1 overall and 8-2-1 in Region XII. Today's win gives the Express a two game cushion over Muskegon (8-5-1 overall, 6-4-1 Region XII) for second place in the Region XII standings with three games remaining. Therefore, any Express win or Muskegon loss would clinch the #2 seed for the Express because they hold the head-to-head tiebreaker via their two wins over Muskegon.
The #2 seed would provide a quarterfinal round bye in the Region XII postseason tourney.
Owens will now travel to No. 6 Schoolcraft College (11-1-1 overall, 9-0-1 Region XII) on Wednesday for a 4 p.m. game. It will be a matchup of the top two teams in the Region XII standings. Owens and Schoolcraft battled to a 1-1 tie in 2 OT on Sept. 5.
