Frostburg State Soccer Blog: October 2013

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Bobcats End Season with Dissappointing Loss

The final season wrapped up Wednesday afternoon with an away match at the #16 nationally ranked York College Spartans. An early goal and a second tally in the first half was too much for us to overcome as we dropped the season finale 2-1.

The energy around the game was a little odd as both teams were already assured of their playoff spot and pride was the only thing left to play for. We decided to give freshman Jackson Bicknell his first start of the season in goal to see what he would look like against a tough opponent. Despite surrendering an early goal Jackson rebounded well and put together a solid performance.

York got on the board with just under 4 minutes played when we failed to track a runner on a through ball and then his pass across the box was run onto by a York player beating the FSU player to the ball. We sort of fell asleep on the play and put ourselves in hole that we didn't want to be in. The boys responded well and played a solid first half and created just as many scoring opportunities while actually out shooting York for the half, but surrendered another goal on a similar play later in the half to go down 2-0.

The second half was similar to the first as both teams probably split possession and scoring opportunities. In true Frostburg fashion we began to push forward and gain momentum and just minutes after Chris Jones fired one off the post he tallied his team leading eighth goal of the season when he calmly placed home a feed from Kyle Walczak deep inside the box. It was a good finish by the team, but still not the performance we needed to get at least one signature win on the season. We finish the season 11-5 and the #5 seed in the CAC playoffs.

http://youtu.be/r0JX_DW5c8s - Jones goal

We will be at Mary Washington on Saturday for a 2pm kick-off. The winner will then face #1 seed Salisbury on Wednesday afternoon.

CAC TOURNAMENT BRACKET

(all games played at higher-seeded team; game times TBA)
  FIRST ROUND SEMIFINALS CHAMPIONSHIP
Sat., Nov. 2 Wed., Nov. 6 Sat., Nov. 9

                                                              at #1 Salisbury

#5 Frostburg State

at #4 Mary Washington
                                                                                                             2013 Champion
  #6 Wesley

at #3 Christopher Newport

                                                            at #2 York

Monday, October 28, 2013

Mary Washington Scores Twice in the Second Half to Drop the Bobcats

With a road win on Saturday afternoon we would lock up the #4 seed in the CAC playoffs and would face Mary Washington at home this coming Saturday.

It seemed like fate was against us from the beginning as our charter bus broke down and the replacement bus showed up 2 hours late and forced our game to be pushed back an hour to 4:30pm. We got off the bus dressed and ready to go and after a brief 15 minute warm up we kicked off.

We were not pretty to start the game and Mary Washington used the momentum to their advantage and carried a good portion of the play. We held strong and weathered the storm and were able to get to the half tied 0-0.

I actually thought we played better in the second half as we were able to get some possession back and created a few scoring opportunities. However, there were a few moments in the game when we switched off and left some players free or let ourselves get exposed 1v1 and Mary Washington would capitalize to take the 1-0 lead. Mary Washington sealed the game with five minutes left as we pushed forward for the equalizer and got countered.

We did not get the job done when we needed to. Although the travel delays certainly didn't help, I don't think that had anything to do with the outcome of the game. We need to play with more conviction and impose our style of play on the game and we did not do that on Saturday.

The regular season will wrap up on Wednesday as we travel to York for a 4pm kick-off. York has locked up the #2 seed in the CAC playoffs. The loss against Mary Washington now puts us as the #5 seed in the CAC Tournament and we will travel to Fredericksburg, VA to play Mary Washington again this Saturday at 2pm.

Monday, October 21, 2013

Seniors Lead the Way to Shut-out of St. Mary's

It was a special day on Saturday afternoon as we said thank you and goodbye to 13 seniors who would play in their final home game of the season. Making their final home appearance were two year seniors; Pablo Torrano, Phil Nana, Kunle Akinfeleye, Bernard Fatusin, and Collin Sainz, three year seniors; Jared Fohs and Raphael Adjeoda along with four year seniors; Chris Jones, Drew Hock, Jason Bennett, Alex Brainard, Michael Norman, and Brandon Rodgers. Three seniors would tally on the day to lift the Bobcats to a 4-0 win over St. Mary's College.

Jason Bennett got things started early as he hit a well struck ball passed the St. Mary's keeper after a failed clearance by the St. Mary's defense ended up at his feet just inside the box.

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

We went to the half with a 1-0 lead, but were playing well and did a good job of keeping the St. Mary's offense in check only allowing three shots. The second half we continued to keep up the pressure and although it took almost 20 minutes, we once again finished strong with three goals in the final 25 minutes.

Chris Jones scored his team leading seventh goal of the season as he re-directed a Kyle Walczak corner kick into the net. Senior Kunle Akinfeleye would put Joe Clarke in for his second goal of the season after he maneuvered around a St. Mary's defender and beat the keeper. Akinfeleye would net his fourth of the season when fellow classmate Raphael Adjeoda outraced the defender to the ball and found Akinfeleye in front of the goal.

http://youtu.be/MS4QVFLRohI - Jones goal

http://youtu.be/NWx8_3fL-fA - Clarke goal

http://youtu.be/cIwjOu-icss - Akinfeleye goal

It was nice to end the regular season with an undefeated home record (8-0) and to send the seniors out with a home shut-out. All the seniors got in the game including injured goalkeeper Drew Hock who was able to start the match and then was subbed out after the kick-off.

The playoff picture is still uncertain as some teams still have three games to play. We have a mid week bye this week and will play Mary Washington at 3:30pm on Saturday at UMW. I believe a win will get us no worse than a #4 seed for the playoffs. Currently we stand at 11-3 overall and 4-2 in the CAC.

Friday, October 18, 2013

FSU Rebounds From Slow Start to Score Six

Junior Bryan Lentine

It was not a good game for about 60 minutes, but the boys responded late and finished off Southern Virginia in the second half for a 6-1 win.

We got off to an early start again when Bryan Lentine scored his first collegiate goal from a Kyle Walczak corner kick just seven minutes into the game.

http://youtu.be/m9BsiOdwqPQ - Lentine Goal

Senior Michael Norman

After that we had a let down and quite honestly played some of our worst soccer of the season. The intensity dropped off, the composure on the ball was lacking, and the ability to string passes together was non-existent. Southern Virginia did their best to take advantage off our poor performance and created a few scoring opportunities from set pieces and long throw-ins.

The second half was a little more of the same and after some poor defending we surrendered a penalty kick and were tied 1-1. Fortunately for us the goal did wake us up and sparked a bit more effort in the boys. Their level of play went up and they decided to finally play some soccer.

Kyle Walczak started the come back when he scored his first goal of the season about midway through the half. Just three minutes later after a nice overlapping run Michael Norman found Nabayee Tesfu with a nice service in front of the goal for the open header.

http://youtu.be/_nBx0OXfS4M - Walczak goal

http://youtu.be/p7AWMGo6fzs - Tesfu goal

We finished with a flurry again as we tallied three more times in the final eight minutes. Michael Norman scored his first of the season on a nice half volley that beat the keeper while Brandon Rodgers flicked home a corner kick and Alex Brainard finished off the scoring with a nice strike to beat the keeper from the top of the box.

http://youtu.be/tBv-WygP2Zo - Norman goal

http://youtu.be/z2jmSG7XUvc - Rodgers goal

http://youtu.be/pJrIpsIGypM - Brainard goal

We were hoping for a better performance coming off the CNU loss, but we did what we needed to do to get the win. We will have to be better on Saturday as we prepare to say goodbye to 13 seniors and will need the win against St. Mary's to clinch a playoff berth.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Newport uses Strong 2nd Half to Defeat FSU

Freshman Chris Herbert

On Saturday afternoon Christopher Newport rallied to defeat FSU 5-1.

We had a great first half and did exactly what we had set out to do. I thought we pressed well, cut off the service to their forwards, and played with a high work rate. We were even at shots for the half, 7-7, and had the slight 1-0 lead after Chris Herbert found the back of the net after CNU failed to clear a corner kick.

The second half was a different story as CNU came out with an intensity that we didn't match. They started to dictate the tempo and got two early goals to take the lead about 10 minutes into the half. I thought we struggled to respond to their early pressure and unlike Wednesday night where we always believed we would win I started to think the guys were second guessing themselves. To make matters worse, Pablo Torrano picked up his second yellow with 30 minutes remaining and made it that much harder for us to respond.

We had no choice but to take some risks and go for it as we were down a goal and a man. Unfortunately Newport took advantage of the spaces we left open and the fatigue of our players started to show later in the half. CNU would tally three more times and hand us our worst loss of the season.

There are definitely some lessons to be learned from this game and hopefully we will respond accordingly as we prepare for the final 4 games of the season. We are back at home this week on Wednesday as we take on CAC newcomer Southern Virginia at 5pm.

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Jones's Late Game Heroics Rescue Bobcats

Senior Chris Jones

Chris Jones recorded his first collegiate hat-trick in dramatic fashion leading FSU to a 4-3 come from behind win against Marymount University.

The game started out even as both teams were adjusting to the rain and field conditions, but an early free kick by Marymount would give them the 1-0 lead. Later in the half Marymount would again score on a free kick to take the 2-0 half-time lead.

We came out pressing and tweaked the line-up a little to be more offensive, but we got caught on a counter and on what may have been their first shot of the half a Marymount player hit a beautiful upper 90 shot and we were down 3-0.

This team has always shown a lot of heart and we were going to need it to get ourselves back into this one. The push was on and were sending guys forward from all positions. Basically down to two in the back we tried to keep Marymount pinned in their half. Alex Brainard got us on the board with just 16 minutes remaining in the game when he one-timed a pass from Jason Bennett and blasted it over the keeper from about 20 yards out.

With just under 10 minutes left Jones headed home a beautifully driven cross from Jonah Mohre. It took Jones less than three minutes to get his second when Jared Fohs played a diagonal ball in behind the back line for Jones to run onto to beat the keeper. Incredibly Jones would win the game just 43 seconds later when he headed home a Bernard Fatusin free kick.

The boys did a good job seeing out the remaining 6:30 minutes to pick up their third CAC win of the year. The game was getting heated when we started to make our run and in the final six minutes, three players were sent off for picking up their second yellow cards of the match. Jason Bennett will have to miss this weekends match against Christopher Newport University.

Monday, October 7, 2013

Torrano Stays Hot for Bobcats

Senior Jared Fohs

Pablo Torrano continued his scoring ways as he tallied two more times to lead the Bobcats to a 3-1 win over Wesley College on Saturday afternoon.

We got off to another quick start when freshman Nabayee Tesfu scored his first collegiate goal when he volleyed home a long throw-in from Jared Fohs just minutes after kick-off.

http://youtu.be/xaVDjKBnTyA - Tesfu Goal

Torrano got his first of the game about five minutes later when he chipped the keeper after another Fohs throw-in put Torrano in behind the back-line.

http://youtu.be/IZqPFPbTyEs - Torrano Goal #1

The rest of the half was pretty uneventful as neither team seemed to register many scoring opportunities.

The second half started like the first half when a Pablo Torrano shot was deflected and caught the keeper going the wrong way just three minutes into the half. We were hoping that would put the game away, but to Wesley's credit they did not quit and were played us pretty even the rest of the match. Wesley would get one back when a header off a free kick was saved by Hassan Mostafa, but the rebound went off the Wesley players arm and into the goal. Despite the assistant referee bringing it to the referee's attention the goal was allowed.

http://youtu.be/CSOy28lB6HM - Torrano Goal #2

We didn't play our best game of the year, but we were happy with the three points and are just trying to focus on doing some of the little things better and be more efficient with the soccer ball.

We will be on the road Wednesday to face Marymount University at 7pm at Long Bridge Park.

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Torrano leads Bobcats Past Lions

Senior Pablo Torrano

Wednesday night we had our first home CAC contest against conference newcomer Penn St. Harrisburg. Pablo Torrano tallied two goals and Chris Jones netted his second of the season for the 3-0 win.

We started the match strong and with a little help from the PSH goalkeeper we got on the board early when he couldn't keep out a fairly routine shot by Torrano in the seventh minute. I never thought we were in too much danger of surrendering a goal, but I thought we could have controlled the tempo of the game better after the early goal.

http://youtu.be/lXqnQqvfFpg - Torrano goal #1

Torrano would get his second of the match with 10 minutes remaining in the half when he challenged the keeper for a loose ball and was able to put away the turnover for the easy score.

http://youtu.be/PDifR2wCQaU - Torrano goal #2

The second half we had a better focus and dictated the tempo of the game. We held PSH to 1 shot and registered 14 of our own. Chris Jones found the back of the net late in the half when he headed a ball off a PSU player from a Kyle Walczak corner kick.

http://youtu.be/B5tBHxxjDZ0 - Jones goal

It's nice to get our first CAC win of the season as we look to pick up 3 more points this weekend when we face Wesley College at 2pm at Bobcat Stadium.