The Wilmington College men's soccer team got out to a fast start, and held on for the non-conference victory over Hanover Tuesday, beating the Panthers, 2-1, on Townsend Field in Williams Stadium.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Junior Niklas Martensson (Torna Hallestad, Sweden/NTI) scored off a free kick in the 19th minute for his team-leading seventh goal of the season.
• Wilmington's second goal come courtesy a Hanover error as the Panthers tallied an own goal in the 33rd minute.
• After putting the WC defense under immense pressure late in the second half, Hanover finally broke through with a goal in the 71st minute.
• The Panthers had several more quality looks, but senior goalkeeper Chris Bourque (Batavia, OH/Batavia) came up big in the final 20 minutes. He finished with seven saves, five of which were in the first half to preserve Wilmington's 2-nil advantage.
• Hanover held the advantage on shots, launching 15 shots to WC's eight, and the advantage with 11 corner kicks to Wilmington's six.

COACHES COMMENTS

• "(Hanover) is a very good team," said Wilmington head coach Bud Lewis. "They are very disciplined and very organized. They have a very dangerous striker, and is probably one of the best teams we have beaten this year. We got a 2-0 lead and just sat on it, instead of continuing to build."
• "The play of the game was Chris Bourque's save on a set piece; that was fabulous," said Lewis. "Not many keepers make that save. That is the biggest difference in our team this year is having a goalkeeper that can make that save."
• "We felt comfortable in the second half, and then they picked it up. I thought they were much crisper and more dangerous with their set pieces, and they were very unfortunate to not get the game tied."

WHAT'S NEXT

Wilmington (6-3-1) travels to John Carroll 7 p.m. Saturday to kick off Ohio Athletic Conference action.