Marosevic, Parke Lead Wolverines Past Northern Illinois

Friday, September 1

East Lansing, Mich.

2:30 PM

Michigan

1-2

Northern Illinois

1-2

Northern Illinois

Michigan

Marosevic, Parke Lead Wolverines Past Northern Illinois

9/1/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

By: Joseph Conrad

Site: East Lansing, Mich. (Old College Field)
Event: MSU/Radisson Fall Classic
Score: Michigan 2, Northern Illinois 1
Records: U-M (1-2), NIU (1-2)
Next U-M Event: Sunday, Sept. 3 -- vs. New Mexico at MSU/Radisson Fall Classic (East Lansing, Mich.), 11 a.m.

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- The University of Michigan men's soccer team held off Northern Illinois for a 2-1 victory on Friday (Sept. 1) in the MSU/Radisson Fall Classic at Michigan State's Old College Field. Freshman Peri Marosevic (Rockford, Ill./Edison Academy) and junior Michael Parke (Portage, Mich./Portage Central) netted the Wolverine goals to give the Maize and Blue (1-2-0) its first victory of the season.

The freshmen connection between Mauro Fuzetti (Houston, Texas/Stratford) and Marosevic linked up for the first time of the season at the 18:36 mark, when Fuzetti assisted Marosevic. Fuzetti dished the ball to Marosevic, giving Marosevic the opportunity to take a low shot from the right side of the net to beat NIU goalkeeper Matt Corcoran to the left corner. Marosevic finished the match as the team leader in shots (4) and second with two shots on goal.

After taking a 1-0 lead over the Huskies, Michigan began to play defense and protect the lead as sophomore/freshman Patrick Sperry (Hinsdale, Ill./Hinsdale Central) made three saves in the first half against seven NIU shots. For the first 55 minutes of action, Sperry held the Northern Illinois offense scoreless until Chris VanDuerm netted a Huskies goal at the 55:44 mark. Sperry finished the game with seven saves and one goal against as he faced 15 shots.

Michigan sealed the game with a marker from Parke, who netted the game-winner six seconds before halftime (44:54). Parke's first career goal was set up by Fuzetti, who earned his second assist of the match. Parke beat Corcoran with a high shot to the upper left corner after grabbing his own rebound from a Corcoran save.

Michigan continued to search for more offense as sophomore Jake Stacy (Grand Rapids, Mich./Forest Hills Central) took a team-high three shots on goal. Stacy forced the NIU keeper to make a save just 1:31 into the second stanza. Michigan took five shots to finish the game.

The Wolverines will close out the tournament against third-ranked New Mexico on Sunday (Sept. 3) at 2:30 p.m. on Old College Field in East Lansing, Mich.

GAME SUMMARY

By Periods	1	2	F
Northern Illinois	0	1	1
Michigan	2	0	2

Scoring, Time (Assist)
1st -- U-M, Peri Marosevic, 18:36 (Mauro Fuzetti)
1st -- U-M, Michael Parke, 44:54 (Fuzetti)
2nd -- NIU, Chris VanDuerm, 55:44 (Ben Thomas)

Shots: U-M 14, NIU 15
Saves: U-M 7 (Patrick Sperry), NIU 6 (Matt Corcoran)
Corner Kicks: U-M 3, NIU 4
Fouls: U-M 24, NIU 15
Cards: NIU, Justin McGrane, 65:00 (yellow); U-M, Santos Perez, 67:18 (yellow)

NOTES

• With the victory over NIU, Michigan snapped a two-game losing skid and boosted its Michigan State Invitational all-time record to 9-2.

• Michigan is 1-0 all-time against Northern Illinois and 9-5 against MAC teams.

• Redshirt freshman Patrick Sperry earned his first collegiate win, grabbing seven saves for the second time in the season.

• Junior Michael Parke and freshman Peri Marosevic scored their first career goals, with Parke collecting his first game-winner.

• Freshmen Julian Robles and Matt Schmitt made their collegiate debuts as reserves.

QUOTES

Michigan Head Coach Steve Burns
On the game ... "We showed a bit of composure with regards to playing against a difficult team that played a direct style. Northern Illinois has some strong players that are good in the air and good finishers, and I think Northern Illinois will win quite a few games this season. We got ahold of the game early and we showed a bit of composure, but not enough to say that we've arrived by any means. I think we get a win, and we take from this a learning experience about taking responsibility when you're trying to win a game, and not think the guy next to you is going to make the plays."

On Patrick Sperry ... "Sperry played the way we know he's capable of, so he played up to his potential today and he really kept us in the game with a couple of great saves. He's showing like the keeper we know he is, and every game he's going to get a little better. We know that at times there are going to mistakes that happen from a young goalkeeper, but he's certainly showing he's going to be a good one."

On the offensive production ... "The players are doing a better job of recognizing how to penetrate and how to find the third man running, and with that you start get more looks on goal. Don't forget Michael Parke, who got a real timely goal which proved to be the game-winner."

On Michael Parke ... "Parke is a real cerebral player with great anticipation instincts and he knows when to be in right spot all the time. With that he really helped Michigan tonight. So, it's his first career goal, first game-winner, so everything is looking good for Michael Parke."

On how the win helps the team as it prepares for New Mexico ... "Anytime you win, you gain a bit of confidence. The issue is when you win too much you tend to get a little soft. We've experienced some adversity with our first couple of games with our losses. Confidence is always a good thing because we're playing against a strong New Mexico team that was in last year's championship game that has done a really good job of recruiting, bringing in a lot of good players into their program."

U-M Junior Michael Parke
On first career goal being a game-winner ... "I was just happy to be in the right position at the right time. Mauro (Fuzetti) made a great play to win the ball back; I just ran and he found me. I had a one-time shot, the keeper made a save and I followed up on it to put it in. I'm just really happy to gather the game-winner and help my team."

On the team's ability to rebound from starting out 0-2 ... "Anytime you lose it's hard on the team and it's great to see how you rebound from that. I think we did really great; we had a great week of practice. We weren't too worried because we know we were close in the losses, we just made some mistakes and that's what happens. We kept the same attitude to push ourselves even more and people stepped it up. We came out with that attitude to dominate, and we were able to get the win."

On the team's attitude preparing to face New Mexico ... "We just need to do some of the little things and eliminate the small mistakes we were making and come out knowing we can beat any team if we come out to play. That's what this team is all about, knowing that we can beat any team on our schedule if we come to play, and we've got 25 strong that are willing to do that."