So far this season, the Waynesburg University men’s soccer team has struggled in close games.

Coming into their non-conference finale against Shenandoah University this past Monday, Sept. 25, the Jackets had just one win in six contests decided by one goal or fewer. For the first time in 23 days, the Yellow Jackets picked up a victory, 1-0.

At first, thought, it did not seem that would be the case; for nearly 77 minutes neither team managed to find the back of the net.

Then, late in the second half, junior forward Austin Zurik’s first goal of the season broke the deadlock, assisted by junior defender Tyler Sisler. The goal would be all the offense the Yellow Jackets would need.

For head coach Brad Heethuis, the win was important for Waynesburg improving as a young team.

“It’s [part of] that growing process, that learning process, that a lot of these young guys have to do,” Heethuis said. “It was good to get that 1-0 win and to kind of be able to see a game out there in the last five, 10 minutes. We didn’t do that good prior to last night, and I wouldn’t say we did that perfectly by any means last night. But it was much better in the sense of finishing off a game.”

After leading the Yellow Jackets in goals last season with three, Zurik has only started two games so far in 2017. For Zurik, who came off the bench Monday night, it was a relief to get that first goal out of the way.

“To finally put one in the back of the net is really relieving,” Zurik said. “Especially to finally break the tie, but also personally – since I’ve been struggling this year. It felt good to get that confidence back before [conference play] starts.”

Zurik said that a change in his strategy helped lead to the goal.

“We had a long throw in and we had a play set up to send a few people near post, and a few loop the back post, but I changed up my run… I had been going near post the whole game, so I took a few steps near post, and it cleared up some space,” Zurik said.

Waynesburg outshot Shenandoah, 20-8, and also had seven shots on goal as opposed to three for the Hornets. Due to the difference in total shots, Zurik feels the final score was misleading

“Even though the final score was 1-0, it probably could have and should have been about 4-0, because we had a lot of chances,” Zurik said.

Zurik said that closing out a game was a point of discussion after a 2-2 draw against Pitt-Greensburg last Tuesday, Sept. 19.

“After [UPG], we came together as a team and talked about [closing],” Zurik said. “We focused on that in practice, so I think it was also really good that we closed out the game, got the ball to the corners and followed our game plan.”

Junior goalkeeper James Snyder posted his second clean sheet of the campaign. Although Snyder only had to save three shots, Heethuis said that the stops he did make were vital to the win.

“[Snyder] didn’t have to make a lot of saves, but the few he did make were big,” Heethuis said. “One [was especially vital] in the first half. It was pretty much [a one-on-one situation,] and he came up with a big save to keep it knotted at 0-0. He could have clicked off mentally, but he was in it for 90 minutes.”

For Snyder, being able to focus despite not seeing a lot of action was vital.

“It’s staying mentally in the game,” Snyder said. “It’s really easy to just kind of forget that you’re there, or forget that this is a 1-0 game…You’re just staying focused on the game and understanding and analyzing every play, and just trying to make sure that when they do come down… you have to be at your best.”

Waynesburg will play the first of its eight Presidents’ Athletic Conference games this Friday, Sept. 29, when it travels to Latrobe, to take on St. Vincent College at 2 p.m. Although the Bearcats did not post an impressive non-conference record, Snyder does not take them lightly.

“[St. Vincent is] coming in confident,” Snyder said. “They’re coming in ready to play. They feel that they can get a win over us, but we understand that we are the better team. We just have to go out and play our game and not feel any pressure about it.”

Heethuis sees conference play as the start of a new season.

“[We can] kind of throw records out the window at this point,” Heethuis said. “St. Vincent, every year, they’re going to come at you hard in work, and try to put you under pressure. So it will be a good first test for us in the conference.”