Bobcats Drop CAC Opener to #24 Salisbury

On Saturday afternoon the boys dropped a hard fought contest to #24 ranked Salisbury University 1-0.

In the first half Salisbury carried the possession as we played a little more defensive and wanted to absorb the early pressure.  I thought we did a good job staying organized and limited their quality scoring opportunities, but we switched off for a moment and left some guys open near the box after a contested header that we couldn't clear away.  Salisbury picked up the loose ball and after 1 pass found the back of the net with just under 3 minutes to play in the half.

The second half we came out much stronger and began to apply more pressure to the Salisbury defense.  Chris Herbert made a good run into the box and was fouled for a penalty kick just minutes into the half.  We did not convert, but kept our heads up and kept fighting to get the equalizer.  We gave good effort all the way to the end, but still came up short.

I thought the boys put out their best effort of the season, but at the same time we are not happy with the loss.  We know playing Salisbury, CNU, Mary Washington, and York all away from home this year will be a tough road to travel, but we are still setting our sights on a top 4 finish which will guarantee us at least 1 home game in the CAC playoffs.

We will look to get our first conference win on Wednesday when we host CAC new-comer Penn St. Harrisburg at 7pm at Bobcat Stadium.

FSU Rolls Past Hood 3-1

Senior Defender Bernard Fatusin

The boys closed up their non-conference schedule with a 3-1 road win over Hood College on Wednesday.

Defenders Bernard Fatusin and Jason Bennett had a hand in all 3 goals as Fatusin opened the scoring in the first five minutes of  the match while Bennett doubled the lead 15 minutes later.  Fatusin would also assist on the third goal of the game while Joe Clarke picked up his first goal of the season.

I thought we played fairly well to start the game and had some nice possession leading to a few early scoring opportunities.  Bernard made a nice run from the back and was able to get in behind the Hood defense after a nice give and go and perhaps a fortunate bounce off the defender.  He snuck the ball past the keeper near post just as the goalie was about to cheat for the cross.

http://youtu.be/-NQLyHM7yoQ - Fatusin goal

Jason Bennett picked up his first goal of the season after a nice switching of the point of attack allowed him to dribble towards the box and get a shot off to the far corner beating the keeper.     

http://youtu.be/O1832GHHfA0 - Bennett goal

The third goal from Joe Clarke came off another run out of the back from Fatusin and after beating the defender 1v1 he found Clarke for a shot inside the box (unfortunately no video of this goal). 

Overall it was nice to get the road win and close up the non-conference schedule with a 6-1 record.  Our defense played well again only allowing an unfortunate PK with about 3 minutes left in the match.  Freshman GK Jackson Bicknell got his first minutes of the season subbing in for Hassan Mostafa in the second half and Kyle Walczak and Mitchell Muise both played their first minutes of the season after being out with injuries to start the year.

CAC play will begin this weekend with an away match against Salisbury at 2pm.

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Second Half Spurt Gives Bobcats First Road Win

Senior Alex Brainard

Tuesday night the boys took on former AMCC rival Penn St. Altoona.  The game entered the second half deadlocked at 0-0, but senior Alex Brainard would supply the go ahead goal seven minutes into the half and classmate Brandon Rodgers would add the insurance with just under 10 minutes to go for the 2-0 road win.

The first half both teams were kind of feeling each other out.  I thought we missed some opportunities to get on the board, but at least we were creating scoring chances.  Both teams recorded 5 shots, but Altoona's best opportunity came off a free kick that GK Drew Hock was able to dive and touch wide of the goal.

The second half we came out strong and controlled the tempo.  Brainard got us on track after hitting a nice left footed shot to the far corner well out of the reach of the Altoona keeper.  After the goal Altoona seemed to pick up their play, but our defense stayed compact and held the Lions to only 1 shot in the half.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7c5WI4jUxrs&feature=youtu.be - Altoona video

With about 10 minutes left Rodgers got a hold of a loose ball in the box and buried it in the back of the net to secure the win.  It was nice to get our first road victory and with 1 non-conference game remaining we now stand out 5-1 on the season.

We have a bye this weekend and hopefully that will allow a little more time for some of the injured guys to get back on the field and get their fitness back.  We will be at Hood College at 4pm on September, 25th.

Men's Soccer Scores Two Late Goals to Defeat Presidents

Senior Chris Jones

Senior Chris Jones rescued the game for us with his second goal of the match with just fifty seconds remaining as the boys battled back and scored two goals in the final 6:30 minutes to defeat Washington and Jefferson College 3-2.

We started out nicely stringing some passes together and looking for combinations to get in behind their defense.  Jones made a run out of the back and kept going while Alex Brainard and Pablo Torrano played a nice up-down-thru to find Jones penetrating their back line.  Jones calmly floated a shot over the charging keeper for the 1-0 lead just 11 minutes into the game.

http://youtu.be/VcmPwbehiI4  - Jones Goal

Unfortunately we switched off soon after on a free kick and allowed two unmarked Presidents to get in behind our defense off a second service and the game was tied at 1-1 just two minutes later.  We controlled much of the tempo for the remainder of the half but could not find the second goal.

We started the second half positively and again were looking for many more combinations than we had tried in the previous game.  However, once again after looking pretty solid we failed to clear a ball from our box twice and it found its way to an open W&J player who put a nice shot in the corner out of the reach of our keeper.

This gave us a chance to see what we were made of and if we could handle a little adversity.  We kept pressing and putting the W&J goal under duress, but it would take until the 84th minute to find the equalizer.  Jonah Mohre sent a shot towards the goal off a cleared corner kick and Kunle Akinfeleye re-directed it towards the corner to find the back of the net. Akinfeleye now leads the team in goals with three.

     http://youtu.be/KplsVPC3Dy0  - Akinfeleye Goal 

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The intensity of the game rose as we pushed even more for the game winner.  With just 50 seconds remaining Jared Fohs tossed a long throw into the box and several Bobcats went up to get the ball.  The W&J keeper could not get through the scrum of FSU attackers and the ball dropped right in front of the goal when Jones pounced on it for his second of the game.

 

http://youtu.be/Xbd-vFF4eko  - Jones Goal #2 

 

With two non-conference games left before CAC play we hope to continue our winning ways when head to Altoona on Tuesday for a 6pm game.

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Men's Soccer Suffers First Defeat of Season

We were at McDaniel on Saturday for our first road contest of the year.  I don't know if it was adjusting to the travel or playing on grass, but we just never got anything going and were defeated 3-0.

It was one of those games that we kind of saw coming.  Eventually someone was going to capitalize on the mistakes that we were making and McDaniel certainly did that.  About 15 minutes into the first half McDaniel put together a decent passing sequence aided by our lack of pressure on the ball and found the back of the net.  We struggled to generate much offense, but did start to gain a little possession toward the end of the half.

I thought we started out the second half looking pretty strong and felt it was just a matter of time before we got back into the game, but then we committed a stupid foul on the top of box which resulted in another McDaniel goal.  With 10 minutes remaining our center back got stripped and allowed McDaniel in on goal for their third of the game.

If nothing else hopefully this will serve as a wake up call and the boys will learn that against good teams little things can cost us the game.

We will have the opportunity to get back on track at home on Wednesday night as we face Waynesburg College at 7pm.

Bobcats Make it Three in a Row

We are still not playing up to our potential, but we are finding ways to win games and that is a good thing.  Wednesday night the boys found the back of the net three times to blank Bethany 3-0.

We have not played the prettiest style of soccer as we are struggling with doing a lot of the little things correctly, but we are keeping good shape in the back and not allowing to many scoring opportunities.  The offense is doing just enough to get us on the board and claim victory, but as the season progresses we'll need to be better on the ball and with our decision making.

Pablo Torrano got us on track early as he skillfully volleyed home a rebound off a shot by Jared Fohs in the third minute.  We controlled most of the play, but Bethany did create a few opportunities including a questionable off sides call that went in our favor when they were in on goal for a clear breakaway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUeM3vBEXbU

We seemed to calm down and gain a little more control in the second half.  Freshman Chris Herbert notched his second goal of the season when he followed up another rebound off a Torrano shot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VfzWdZAeZg

Kunle Akinfeleye also tallied his second goal of the season when he out raced a defender and the goalkeeper to slot home the third goal of the game late in the match.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrQrv5AO7Gk

Senior Drew Hock picked up his second win of the season in goal while the defense of Chris Jones, Bernard Fatusin, Jared Fohs, Bryan Lentine, and Phil Nana combined for their third shut out of the season.

We will return to action Saturday at McDaniel College for a 4:30pm Kick-off.

FSU Defends Tournament Title

The boys claimed their third straight FSU Kick-off Tournament Championship this past weekend.  All the games were fairly competitive as three out of four went to overtime.

On Friday night we faced off against Grove City College.  This was a hard fought game as both teams worked extremely hard and had a lot of energy on opening day.  Neither team produced too many scoring opportunities, but Grove City did hold the advantage in shots.

With about a minute and a half left in the second overtime senior Chris Jones made a tackle in the box and freshman Chris Herbert launched a ball all the way down field to a charging Pablo Torrano.  Torrano took off and out competed two Grove City defenders for the ball and tucked away a left-footed shot in the corner to give us the opening day win.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUp6PeHquZU

On day two the boys were able to get in more of a rhythm against Pitt Greensburg and were able to knock the ball around a little bit more.  Late in the first half Kunle Akinfeleye tapped home a sitter as Chris Jones slid the ball across the box after a corner kick.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiw9mKk8iFI

Freshman Chris Herbert notched his first collegiate goal minutes after to give us the 2-0 lead and all the insurance we would need.  The defense did well holding Greensburg to just two shots including zero in the second half.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9PKbkSutzs

It was a great way to start the season getting two shut-outs at home, but we know we have a lot of work to do still.  We had some guys step up and play some significant minutes while we deal with some early season injuries.  We hope to have Kyle Walczak, Michael Norman, and freshman Jonah Mohre back in about a week, but will probably have to wait a little longer before Bryan Whitmore and Mitchell Muise can take the field.

We return to action on Wednesday night at 7pm against Bethany College.