Lack of Offense Sinks Bobcats

Seniors: Raul Diaz, Stephen Cavallo, and Danny Hutchins

Instead of peaking at the right time of year it looks like we have done just the opposite and gone back to the beginning of the season. FSU suffered two more 1-0 defeats as the offense struggles to put goals on the board.

Wednesday night ex-AMCC rival Penn St. Altoona came to town for the final non-conference match of the season. It was a competitive game that didn't see many good scoring opportunities. Despite being up a player for the majority of the second half the FSU offense was unable to find the back of the net. With two minutes remaining in regulation Altoona was awarded a penalty kick and would put it away to take the victory 1-0.

Wesley College was next up at home on Saturday for senior day and a crucial CAC contest. With wins against Wesley and Stevenson (on Wednesday) FSU would be in a position to earn 4th place in the conference playoffs and receive a home game for the first round of the CAC tournament. The Bobcats had a very sub-par performance in the first half and in the 38th minute Wesley would go ahead on a free kick from just outside the penalty area. The team would respond well at half-time and came out with a much better second half energy. FSU would out shoot Wesley 9-4 in the second half, but again were unable to finish. This makes the teams eighth one goal loss of the season.

The loss puts FSU in a must win position on Wednesday at Stevenson. With the win FSU would still need some help to qualify for the CAC tournament. Going into the final games this Tue/Wed all 9 teams are still alive and seeds 3 - 6 are still to be determined.

The offense will need to find the back of the net on Wednesday or the season will end for the Bobcats. Leading scorer, Dillon Muise who has been out since the Mary Washington game is still rehabbing and will not be available against Stevenson and reserve forward Greg Hill who picked up his second concussion of the year in the St. Mary's game has been lost for the remainder of the regular season.

Double Over-Time Again

Saturday's CAC match up against St. Mary's College ended in another 2-2 draw. It was a tail of two halves as we jumped out early to a 2-0 lead with the wind at our backs, but conceded two in the second half and would be caught playing defense the remainder of the game.

FSU jumped out early as Shawn Baker sent a forty-yard shot over the St. Mary's keepers head about 15 minutes into the game. Baker had noticed the keeper playing high off his line and with the wind at his back turned and sent one towards the goal. It was a bit ambitious, but a very heads up play that would give is the early lead. Ten minutes later Baker was in alone on the St. Mary's keeper and the keeper would be forced to take him down in the box. Mike Bistany would convert the penalty kick and give FSU a 2-0 half-time lead.

The second half was mostly St. Mary's as they possessed most of the play in the midfield and we struggled to work the ball out against the wind. St. Mary's would get on the board early off a corner kick and then midway through the half would tie the game on nice strike form about twenty-yards out.

Both overtimes were pretty uneventful except the final attack that St. Mary's mounted ended with a shot off the post. Despite giving up the two goal lead we do feel fortunate to come away with the tie on the road as St. Mary's did have the better of play and scoring opportunities. With two conference games left we are still in a position to finish anywhere from 4th place to being out of the playoffs. Saturday's game against Wesley College at 2pm will be Senior Day and will be a must win for us to get closer to securing a playoff spot for the CAC Tournament.

Shawn Baker and Mike Bistany

Team Begins to Make Strides

We finished up last week with a 1-0-1 record and continue to see improvement in our quality of play.

Last Wednesday it was a cold, rainy night in Frostburg, but despite the weather we were able to do enough to defeat St. Vincent College 2-0. It was hard to control the ball at times on the wet turf, but we limited St. Vincent's chances and towards the end of the game junior Mike Bistany put us ahead on a well struck free kick and freshman Toby Schaffner would record his first collegiate goal in the waning minutes to put the game away 2-0. It was nice to get the shutout at home and get back to finding a way to win.

Saturday we were on the road at Mary Washington. Mary Washington came into the game tied for first in the conference and boasting an impressive 7-2-1 record. We knew it would take another performance like that against York and Salisbury to keep us in the game and we were hoping to be a little more of an offensive threat this time around.

For the first time since the first game of the season we had every player healthy and available which was a big boost to the team confidence. Sophomore Dillon Muise would put us ahead in the second half with his team leading fourth goal of the season with a blast from about 20 yds. out which knuckled and went over the keepers head. Unfortunately, on the strike Muise would re-aggravate a hamstring injury and will most likely have to sit for the next few games. Mary Washington would tie the game on a penalty kick with about 20 minutes left in the game. The game went back and fourth for a while and ended with an FSU flurry of shots on the goal including what was thought to be the game winner with just seconds left as Jamie Flewellyn followed up a rebound and sent it towards the open UMW goal. A Mary Washington defender would slide out of nowhere and save the ball off the goal line to secure the tie and send the game into overtime. Neither team was very dangerous in the overtime periods and the game would end in a 1-1 draw.

We are off midweek, but back on the road this weekend against CAC opponent St. Mary's College. The parity of the conference has shown itself with all nine teams still alive for the six playoff spots as we head into the last two weeks of the season.

The boys stepped up once again and put forth a great defensive effort, but came up short against York College and lost another 1-0 match. That makes our fifth one goal loss of the season and fourth 1-0 defeat.


We just can't seem to catch a break this season as the injuries continue to mount and we just can't seem to get healthy. Both starting center backs, Jamie Flewellyn and Mike Bistany were out for the match along with central mid-fielder Bryan Whitmore who has started four of nine matches this year.

Mike Hurst and Raul Diaz had strong games replacing the center backs and did a good job of limiting York’s scoring opportunities. At the end of the first half York had not registered a shot on goal. Again the team was disciplined, played hard, and our team defense was tough to breakdown.

In the second half the game opened up more as both teams switched up formations. York was more dangerous going forward and had a few more scoring opportunities, but were held to just the one goal. We actually began to gain a little control of the game as the subs in the second half worked extremely hard and changed the flow of the game. Forward reserves Greg Hill and Michael Norman created problems up top with their speed and work rate and helped the FSU offense create four legitimate scoring opportunities in the final 15 minutes.

When the final whistle blew the team was disappointed with the result, but happy of the way they rebounded on the road against a quality opponent after a poor mid-week performance. Once again the focus will be to maintain the level of play seen against York and Salisbury and carry that over to the remaining six matches.

We will back at home on Wednesday against non-conference opponent St. Vincent College. Last year’s match was 1-1 draw.