Hooi leads Bruins past No. 7 Park, 3-2
OMAHA, Neb. – Each year the rivalry between Bellevue University and Park University becomes more intense, especially with post-season implications at hand, and on Saturday, the hype would not disappoint. Adam Hooi, an Omaha native, scored the first and last goals of the match sending the Bruins past the seventh-rated Pirated (3-2) at Tranquility Park in conference action. The victory will push Bellevue’s record to 8-3-1 overall and first in the conference at 2-0-0 as the visiting Park Pirates will go to 7-2-3 and 1-1-0 in the league.
Adam Hooi put Bellevue up first in the 22nd minute getting an assist from Mark Heath-Preston giving the host Bruins a 1-0 lead. The Bruins having won their last three home games were hoping to extend on the streak, but it would have wait as Park University tied things up four minutes later (26:51) when Ramone Palmer scored his second goal of the year on a James Katajwa cross.
With the scored tied up a 1-1 and every statistical category even through the first 45 minutes, Park University took a 2-1 lead 19 minutes into the second half. Katajwa, with an assist already, scored the goal unassisted leaving the Bruins not much time to mount a comeback.
As the time passed 15 minutes remaining in regulation, Tom Dodds (2) got a rebound assists from Ryan Cantello that forced the Park keeper off his line leaving Dodds with one man to beat rippling the back of the net tying the match at 2-2. The urgency fell on both teams knowing the implication the outcome could potentially have.
Eleven minutes later, Casey Friend found himself in the corner with a defender on his back, the junior from New Iberia, Louisiana, spun towards the end line with a step on the defender and sent the ball towards goal. His cross didn’t look like it would be successful until appearing out of nowhere, Adam Hooi, put a head on it with less than four minutes remaining. The Bruins were able hold on a late Park attack for the victory.
Bellevue out-shot Park 19-13, with the majority of those shots coming in the final minutes. Tom Dodds led the Bruins with four shots, two on goal, with three each from Adam Hooi, Trevor Eastman, and Mark Heath-Preston. Luke Baxter won his fifth straight match in goal with two saves in 90 minutes. A rarity when it comes to these two teams, only nine combined fouls, five for Bellevue, four against Park.
Ramone Palmer had four shots to lead the Park team with three shots coming from Tazou Ali Tagba, who leads the team in goals this year. James Katajwa had one assists and a goal for the seventh-ranked Pirates as the loss will go to Michael Eade picking up four saves.