Second Half Rally Propels FSU Over Hood

Frostburg State used a quick strike attack in the second half to down Hood College 4-1 on Tuesday night.

The first half saw a fairly even game with the lone goal coming on a Ryan Russell free kick midway through the first half. We squandered two opportunities inside the six yard box that could have put the game away early, but the Hood defense held strong and kept it a one goal game going into half time.

We came out with a better focus in the second half and began to press the Hood back line. Thirteen minutes into the second half the FSU attack would take charge. Bryan Whitmore would knock home a sitter on an open goal after Pablo Torrano attacked the end line and drew the keeper out and found Whitmore waiting in front of the net. Ryan Russell would score again one minute later and Pablo Torrano would finish off the scoring two minutes after Russell. Unfortunately after the first goal of the half Hood would be credited with an own goal after an FSU defender headed the ball into our goal off of a long free kick.  It took FSU just three minutes to put the game out of reach and earn our eighth victory of the season.

We are still not playing as consistently as we need to be and will need to have a better showing this Saturday as we get back into CAC play with an away match at Wesley College. We are currently 8-0-1 and ranked #6 in the South Atlantic Region.

Junior, Pablo Torrano
 

Bobcats Come From Behind on Road Again

Frostburg collected another come from behind road win at Waynesburg on Saturday evening.

Junior, Michael Norman

The host Yellow Jackets would catch Frostburg early in the game as a Waynesburg player would run onto a long punt that was not cleared by the FSU defense and beat the FSU keeper to the ball for an easy score.  The Bobcats would start to get back in the game and control the play, but it would take some time to unlock the Waynesburg defense. FSU was rewarded a penalty kick when a Pablo Torrano shot was handled by a Waynesburg defender in the box. Shawn Baker would step up and tie the score at one a piece. Eight Minutes later Ryan Russell would get his third game winning goal of the season as he collected a Jared Fohs throw-in and buried his fifth goal in his last three games. Michael Norman would finish off the half with and insurance goal in the 44th minute. The Bobcats would finish the half with a 13-2 advantage in shots.

The Bobcats would see the game out in the second half by keeping possession and limiting the Yellow Jackets to just four more shots. We were able to get a lot of guys in the game and reward some guys with some playing time for the hard work they have been putting in during practice. Reserve backs, Phil Nana and Brandon Zurita stepped up in the backline when two defenders were lost to injury and Andrew Adami and Raphael Adjeoda logged significant minutes up top and gave Russell and Torrano a much deserved rest.

We have one more non-conference game this week against Hood College before we get back into CAC play on Saturday with a road trip to Wesley College.

Russell Hat Trick Propels Bobcats

Senior, Ryan Russell

On a cold and rainy Frostburg night, Ryan Russell would put the Lions away with his first collegiate hat trick.

Ryan Russell has gotten back to his 2011 CAC Player of the Year form with four goals in the last two games. It didn't take him long to get the Bobcats on track as he took a feed from Shawn Baker to get in behind the Lion defense and put the Bobcats up 1-0 in the 9th minute of play. After the Russell goal play went both ways and neither team threatened too much as FSU held a slim 4-2 advantage in shots.

The second half saw the wind pick up and the play was a little sloppy, but the FSU offense started to press. It took a while to put the game away, but Russell would complete his hat trick in the 83rd and 86th minute of the match. FSU would end the game with an 18-4 advantage in shots, but the game felt closer than the box score would suggest.

We didn't quite play to level we saw on Saturday against Salisbury, but a 3-0 shutout at home against a very scrappy Altoona team is a good win. We are currently 6-0-1 and have two more upcoming non-conference games before we get back to CAC play on the 29th against Wesley.

Altoona Goals - http://youtu.be/fIE6IvzOAm4 

Bobcats Draw Conference Opener

 

In a battle of regionally ranked teams, Frostburg (#7) and Salisbury (#5) battled to a 1-1 draw on Saturday afternoon at FSU.

Trying to avenge last season’s defeats against Salisbury we came out and played a very strong half.  We stayed organized on defense and were able to keep possession of the ball as we advanced up the field.  Neither team threatened too much in the first half and we would go to the intermission tied at 0-0.  Frostburg would hold a slight 5-2 advantage in shots for the first half.

We would strike the first blow less than half way through the first half.  Shawn Baker would play a nice through ball to Ryan Russell off of a quick re-start and Russell would put it away just out of the reach of the keeper to right side of the goal.  Salisbury would equalize with just about 12 minutes remaining in the match when their forward followed up a rebound off of the hands of Abiye Jack who made a good initial save, but couldn't parry away the knockdown. 

Forward, Ryan Russell

We had a few opportunities in overtime, but could not quite get that second goal to give us the win.  It was a great game of soccer and although we are disappointed to not get the win, we know that we will probably have to face them again in the playoffs and just want to focus on maintaining this level of play.

Up next is Penn St. Altoona on Tuesday at 7pm at Bobcat Stadium.  Altoona is coming off of a huge upset win against #19 nationally ranked Susquehanna University.

http://Www.youtu.be/fzMeNnWFcK0 - Goal vs. Salisbury

Frostburg Takes Jimmy Mills Tournament Championship

The Frostburg State Men's Soccer team took home the Jimmy Mills Tournament Championship this past weekend in Haverford, PA.

On Saturday afternoon the boys would face Ursinus College.  Ursinus came into the match with a 1-1 record and win over Wilkes College in their previous match.  The Bobcats got the offense rolling early as Chris Jones netted his second of the season off a corner kick from Ryan Russell just three minutes into the game.  Russell would add to the lead a minute and a half later with his second of the season after beating the defender on the end line and slipping the ball past the keeper at the near post.

Frostburg would control the tempo the majority of the match and take the 2-0 lead into halftime.  Seven minutes after the intermission the game would be delayed for lightning for 40 minutes and after play resumed Ursinus came out firing and got on the board just two minutes into the restart when an Ursinus player beat Abiye jack with a well struck ball from outside the box.

The game became more competitive after the goal, but we would bunker down to put away the game.  We only allowed one shot on goal for the match and 7 total shots, so the defense did its job on day one of the tournament.

On Sunday afternoon we would face the hosts, Haverford College in the championship match of the Jimmy Mills Tournament.  Haverford entered the match with a 2-1 record and ranked #10 in the Mid-Atlantic Region.

The game with Haverford was even in almost every aspect.  Shots were tied 13-13, shots on goal were 7 to 6, corners were 6 to 5, and fouls were 10 to 9.  Both teams worked extremely hard and fought for all 90 minutes.  Both teams missed chances in front of goal and the keepers came up big when called upon.  The difference in the match was a penalty kick by Shawn Baker in the 19th minute of the match.  Ryan Russell received a feed from Pablo Torrano and was taken down by a lunging defender in the box.  Baker calmly tucked away his penalty kick for his third goal of the season.

Our bye week comes at a perfect time as we now have a week to get healthy and prepare for CAC regular season champions Salisbury this Saturday afternoon at Bobcat Stadium at 2pm.

 

Buffalo State Goals: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQbtgNcRuRQ&feature=plcp

Men's Soccer Pulls of Stunning Comeback

The Bobcats pulled off a dramatic come from behind 5-4 (OT) win Wednesday afternoon at Bethany College.

With 7 players out for the game including 4 starters we knew it would take a team effort to earn the road victory. The game started on a positive note as Pablo Torrano opened the scoring in the sixth minute of the game with his second goal of the season. The Bison would respond 4 minutes later to tie the score at 1-1.

The rest of the half was a nightmare as we would struggle to really threaten the Bison goal and Bethany would capitalize on the mistakes that were made in our defensive third. With just 6 shots in the half Bethany would score 3 goals and take a 3-1 lead into half-time.

The second half did not start much better as Bethany would once again capitalize on a defensive error to take a 4-1 lead just 35 seconds into the second half. The only good thing about the early goal was it gave us plenty of time to re-group and try and get back in the match. With just under 18 minutes remaining junior defender Jared Fohs hit a bomb from about 35 yards out that beat the keeper and tucked under the crossbar. A minute and a half later junior Bryan Whitmore hit another long rage shot from outside the box that found the back of the net to make it 4-3. Junior Michael Norman would tie the game in the 82nd minute off a throw-in from Jared Fohs.

With momentum on our side the boys kept knocking, but could not find the game winner in regulation. We held a 25-9 advantage in shots, but made the game much more difficult with the early mistakes that were made in the back. We got right after it again in OT and senior transfer Godwin Amuzie knocked home the game winner after a scrum in the box from a corner kick.

Not the prettiest game we've been a part of, but it showed tremendous heart and resolve to come back from that deficit on the road to win the game. We head to Haverford, PA this weekend to face Centennial Conference teams Haverford and Ursinus.

Bobcats Defend Title

On the opening weekend of the 2012 season the Frostburg State Men's Soccer team defended their FSU Kick-off Tournament crown with a pair of 3-0 wins.

On Friday night the Bobcats would play host to visiting SUNYAC contender Buffalo State College. Both teams seemed to be dealing with first game jitters as the play was not the cleanest and the passing game was not where we would like it to be. Despite not quite playing up to our capabilities we managed to finish our opportunities and build a 3-0 lead going into half-time.

Junior transfer, Pablo Torrano got the scoring going off a fine feed from Ryan Russell in the 8th minute of the match. Russell would get his first of the season in the 23rd minute off one of his patented free kicks. Freshman, Michael Cronauer would seal the victory with his first collegiate goal off a long throw-in from Jared Fohs.

We would possess the ball much better in the second half and would create several more scoring opportunities, but would fail to increase the lead. Senior, Abiye Jack would face only 2 shots in net to pick up his first shutout of the season.

On Saturday afternoon we would face Mt. St. Mary College from New York. They advanced to the championship game by defeating St. Vincent College 1-0 on Friday. Again, we failed to knock the ball around as much as we would like, but we were able to control the tempo and again limited our opponent to only two shots for the match.

It took a while to breakthrough, but Shawn Baker slotted home a deflection off a corner kick to give us the lead in the 77th minute. We would ride the momentum of the goal and strike two more times in the next 12 minutes. Junior, Chris Jones would head home a great goal off a free kick service from Russell and Baker would add his second of the season as he followed up on a Andrew Adami shot that came off the post.
http://youtu.be/Gya3LerIK3A - Goals from Mt. St. Mary game

It was a great way to start the season. We played a lot of guys this weekend and got two shutout victories to start the season off right. Our depth will be tested as we head to Bethany, WV on Wednesday down 7 players. Starters Ryan Russell, Cody Butts, Scott Wasser, and Kyle Walczak will be out with injuries along with key reservists Yacob Kahsai and Brandon Zurita. Back-up keeper, Ed Flynn is also on the mend and will be out this game as well.