ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Senior midfielder Mauro Fuzetti (Houston, Texas/Stratford) scored his team-leading sixth goal of the season to rally the University of Michigan men’s soccer team to a 3-1 victory over Detroit at the U-M Soccer Complex on Wednesday (Sept. 16) night.

 
Freshman midfielder Hamoody Saad (Dearborn, Mich./Dearborn) scored the game-winning goal on a free kick--his second goal on a set play this season—in the victory while junior defender Jeff Quijano (Simi Valley,Calif./Canoga) collected his third career goal. Junior/sophomore goalkeeper Chris Blais (Seattle, Wash. /Kennedy Memorial) posted four saves in the win.

 
Michigan, who started the game flat on both sides of the ball, picked up the offensive intensity in the second half, outshooting Detroit, 9-5 for the half.  Fuzetti for the second time this season rallied the Wolverines early in the second half by scoring the equalizer in the 59th minute. There was a scramble in the box and with a deflection from a Detroit defender Fuzetti placed the ball in the lower left corner behind Titan goalkeeper, Bran Waterstradt for the first U-M marker of the night.

 
Saad followed suite shortly after with a goal on a free kick from 35-yards outside of the goal while Quijano put the game out of reach with a goal in the 87th minute. Junior forward Justin Meram (Shelby Township, Mich. /Yavapai College) passed the ball to freshman midfielder Latif Alashe (Northville, Mich. /Northville) who placed the ball at Quijano’s feet.

 
Detroit put the pressure on the Wolverines from the outset of the game, getting through the U-M defense on several occasions but it was goalkeeper Chris Blais (Seattle, Wash./Kennedy Memorial)  came up with a big save in the 21st minute. Detroit’s Ken Simon hit a shot that hung in the air and Blais was able to push the ball out of bounds and keep the game tied at, 0-0.

                                                                                                                    
The Titans broke through in the 29th minute and took a 1-0 advantage into the halftime break with a Pat Lepara goal.  Lepara connected with Ken Simon on a free kick from 25 yards out and placed the ball in the lower right corner. Detroit had a chance to take a 2-0 lead when Simon hit the crossbar late in the half but the ball bounced out of bounds.

 
The Wolverines hit the road to conclude the week as they head to Kalamazoo, Mich., to take on Western Michigan on Saturday. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. at WMU’s Soccer Complex.

 
NOTES

Michigan owns a 5-0-2 record over the Titans and last season defeated them by a score of 5-1, in Detroit, Mich. The Wolverines own a 16-10-5 all-time record against its in-state opponents.

 
With his goal senior forward Mauro Fuzetti (Houston, Texas/Stratford) moves into a tie for fourth place with former Wolverine Peri Marosevic on U-M’s all-time scoring list with 55 career markers.

U-M picked up three second half goals and is outscoring opponents, 13-5 in the second half.  After Notre Dame scored four second-half goals in the season-opener, U-M has only allowed one goal in the second half. Drake scored in the 61st minute of the second half on Sept. 6.

 
The Wolverines are five victories away from their 100th victory in program history. Head coach Steve Burns will also pick up his 100th career victory, as he has the distinction of being U-M’s only head men’s soccer coach.

 
Junior/sophomore goalkeeper Chris Blais (Seattle, Wash./Kennedy Memorial), defending co-Big Ten Player of the Week, had his 230 minute consecutive shutout minutes streak broken with Detroit goal in the 29th minute.

 
Junior defender Jeff Quijano (Simi Valley, Calif./Canoga) scored his third career goal and his first since the 2007 season in tonight’s contest.

 
The Wolverines have scored on set plays in each of the last two games and have scored three times this season on either free kicks or corner kicks.

 
U-M moves to 3-0 on their home field this season. The Wolverines went 9-2-0 on their home field last season.

 

QUOTES

 

Head Coach Steve Burns

 

On the team’s performance…“There are very few complete teams in the nation right now and we’re still a work in progress. Detroit did a great job trying to get a result from us and got the first goal and really tried to sit and absorb pressure and win the game, 1-0 but that’s when we responded and showed the we have the work ethic, have the aggression and have the determination to keep balls alive and then if you’re matching energy and energy, then eventually ability is going to take over and to be fair I thought we were a team that has more ability but that doesn’t always win in soccer.”

 

On scoring goals in the second half… “I think this is what drives coaches to an early grave because the challenge is to do that in the first half. We’ve had teams like this before at Michigan and it’s good to see that we’re a team that knows how to respond and that’s partly the growth of a team that might have some younger players on it. We should know that it should be a moment, like a goal from your opponent to bring your game higher in line. Eventually it will come, right now we’re not getting in marks in that loss column from those mistakes that we’re making and that’s partly the reason that we have the non-conference schedule that we do and that’s to allow our younger guys to figure out the concentration and focus and aggression that needs to happen from the opening whistle.”