In a WIAC rivalry matchup, the UW-Whitewater Warhawks men’s soccer team picked up a win against the visiting UW-Platteville Pioneers bringing home the Shaymus Guinn Cup after a 2-1 victory this Sunday at Fiskum Field.
*The Shaymus Guinn Cup was created in memory of the son of Tony Guinn, head coach of the Warhawks. Guinn’s son passed away at the age of 11 after battling E-Wing Sarcoma and chemo-induced acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The Warhawks were able to recapture the cup a year after dropping a match to Plattville last season. This is the third time bringing home the cup in it’s four years of existence.
Warhawk soccer fan Johnny Zokovitch who was in attendance said, “It’s great to see the team and Coach Guinn turn something so heartbreaking, such as the loss of Shaymus, into something special like this.”
The Warhawks jumped ahead to an early lead after a failed clear attempt in the eighth minute by the Pioneer defenders led to the first score of the game coming off the foot of Dylan Hottsmith, the junior forward. This would increase Hottsmith’s season total to team high 8 goals.
“We all wanted to get a W for coach. This one meant a lot to all of us, especially Coach Guinn. I was just happy to be able get the game started in the right direction but moreso to bring home the Shaymus Cup.” said Hottsmith.
In the sixteenth minute of the first half the Warhawk’s Isaac Monson led another push into pioneer territory down the right sideline. In a cross attempt, Monson’s pass would make contact with a Pioneer defender, and much to their chagrin, ricocheted into the Platteville net for an own goal.
Only one minute later, the Pioneers were able to cut their deficit in half on a penalty kick following a yellow card from Jake Santellano of the Warhawks. After the 3 score first half the score would be 2-1 and it would remain that way for the remained of the match.
Whitewater’s lead was not threatened until the Pioneers nearly tied the game up in the 71st minute where they had a corner kick opportunity. A good cross set up an even better header attempt by a Platteville forward that bounced off the crossbar and went out of play.
A strong outing by the Warhawks men’s soccer team was capped off with another good performance by Keeper, Chris Lucatorto. Lucatorto picked up his 10th win after making four saves in the match.
During halftime the 1986 Men’s soccer team was honored to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the first NCAA Division three Tournament appearance for the program.
Jonathan Stinson, another Warhawk soccer fan said, “It is amazing to see the guys bring home the Shaymus Cup for Coach Guinn but I loved seeing the guys from the ‘86 come back 30 years later. That’s how invested past and present players are in this program and there’s nothing better than that.”