SALLES' HEADER LIFTS RAMS OVER KNIGHTS
September 30, 2006

FORT WORTH, TX:  The rivalry between Texas Wesleyan University and Northwood University did not disappoint at Martin field on Saturday.  The Rams took a thrilling 2-1 win over Northwood on a goal from Austin Salles in the 87th minute.

After the two teams played to a scoreless half, Eddie Hernandez played a ball into the box, and Christian Villasenor collected the rebound and scored his third goal of the season to give Texas Wesleyan a 1-0 in the 66th minute.

It appeared that that score would hold up until Northwood’s Marcos Diaz hit a shot that just got over goalkeeper Thomas Hansen’s head to tie the game at one with ten minutes to play.

With 3:58 remaining Justin Blythe chased down a ball on the end line and played it back to Eken Onuoha.  Onuoha then played a cross to Salles who floated a header over Northwood keeper Bradley Olitzki for the game-winner.

The win got Texas Wesleyan on the board in conference play at 1-1-1.  Their record improved to 2-3-2 overall.  The game also evened the all-time series between the two schools at four games each and ended a two-game losing skid against the Knights.  Northwood fell to 2-6 (0-1 RRAC) with the loss.

“It was hard to get anything going,” said head coach Josh Gibbs.  “We didn’t finish and they got a lot of numbers behind the ball.”  Gibbs went on to talk about the first game-winner of Salles’ career.  “What a great goal for Salles, and Blythe did a great job flying in there to save it.  The guys are playing for each other now, and that is good to see.”

Texas Wesleyan will return to action on Monday, October 2, when they travel to Oklahoma City University.  That game, rescheduled from earlier this season, is set to start at 7:00 p.m. following a women’s game.