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.

Two Bobcats Earn Additional Honors

Junior forward Ryan Russell was selected to the NSCAA All South-Atlantic Region second team.  

Russell scored 16 goals in his first year with the men's team and was named the CAC Player of the Year. He led the conference in goals and points with 34. Russell had six game-winning goals.

http://www.nscaa.com/news/2011/12/2011-ncaa-division-iii-men-all-south-atlantic

Senior defender Jamie Flewellyn has been named to the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III South Men's Soccer All-Star team.

Flewellyn, a Capital Athletic Conference first team selection, earned second team ECAC honors after leading a Frostburg defense that posted 0.94 goals against average, including six shutouts. On the offensive end, he scored three goals on the
season including Frostburg's only goal in their ECAC tournament game against Swarthmore.

In addition to being named all-conference this season, Flewellyn also garnered first team All-AMCC honors in 2009 before Frostburg joined the CAC. Flewellyn finished his career with 71 starts and scored six goals from his defensive position.

Flewellyn captained the 2011 Bobcats to an 11-3-5 record and an appearance in ECAC South Regional Tournament.

ECAC South All-Star Team

Three Bobcats Earn All-CAC Honors

Frostburg State junior forward Ryan Russell (Waldorf, Md./College of Southern Maryland) earned first-team honors and was picked by the coaches as the 2011 CAC Player of the Year.  Russell led the Bobcats and CAC in goals with 16 and finished with 34 points.  Ryan had a streak of scoring in 8 straight games and tallied in 13 of 18 games.  Ryan finished 12th in the nation in goals per game.

FSU’s Russell was joined by senior defender Jamie Flewellyn (Arnold, Md./Broadneck) as a first-team selection.  Jamie anchored a defense that gave up less than a goal a game at 0.94 and he aslo had his best offensive season as he recorded 3 goals and 1 assist from his center back position. 

Junior midfielder Shawn Baker (Jefferson, Md./Brunswick) was a second-team honoree and was second on the team in points behind Russell.  After starting the season as a center midfielder Shawn was moved up to forward and scored in three of the last five games.






2011 All-CAC Men’s Soccer Team
2011 CAC Player of the Year: Ryan Russell, Frostburg State
2011 CAC Rookie of the Year: Yianni Sarioglou, Stevenson
2011 CAC Coach of the Year: Keith Byrnes, Frostburg State

First Team Yr. Pos. Team Hometown/High School
Antonio Bua Jr. For   York   Lancaster, Pa./Lampeter-Strasburg
Joshua Chelleh Jr. For   Wesley   Columbia, Md./Long Reach
Ryan Russell Jr. For   Frostburg State   Waldorf, Md./College of So. Md.
Trevor Sharpe So. For   Salisbury   Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill West
Jimmy Mundy Jr. Mid   Salisbury   Ellicott City, Md./Centennial
Bram Sims Sr. Mid   Mary Washington   Boston, Va./Culpeper
Cody Pearson Jr. Mid   York   Crofton, Md./DeMatha Catholic
Larry Cornish So. Def   Salisbury   Salisbury, Md./Parkside
Jamie Flewellyn Sr. Def   Frostburg State   Arnold, Md./Broadneck
Nick Scarpato Sr. Def   Wesley   Washington Twp., N.J./Wash. Twp.
Aaron Beale So. Def   York   Baltimore, Md./Archbishop Curley
John Vnenchak Jr. GK   Salisbury   Flanders, N.J./Gill Saint Bernards

Second Team Yr. Pos. Team Hometown/High School
Kjell Crooke Sr. For   Marymount   Vienna, Va./James Madison
Mike Gill Sr. For   York   Baltimore, Md./Archbishop Spalding
Marcus Greene So. For   Stevenson   Rosedale, Md./Overlea
Shawn Baker Jr. Mid   Frostburg State   Jefferson, Md./Brunswick
Tommy Krug Fr. Mid   St. Mary’s   Columbia, Md./River Hill
Kyle Long Sr. Mid   Wesley   Delaware, Ohio/Buckeye
Brian Payne Sr. Mid   St. Mary’s   Baltimore, Md./Calvert Hall
Matt Grady Sr. Def   St. Mary’s   Rockyville, Md./Walter Johnson
David Heller So. Def   Mary Washington   Alexandria, Va./Mount Vernon
Chase Humphrey So. Def   Salisbury   Ocean City, Md./Worcester Prep
Ethan Kavanagh Sr. GK   York   Woodstown, N.J./Woodstown
Will Lane Jr. GK   Hood   Walkersville, Md./Walkersville

Bobcats Fall in Penalty Kicks

Senior Jamie Flewellyn

The 2011 season came to an end last night in Swarthmore, PA. We finished the season with yet another tie and got knocked out of the ECAC Tournament on penalty kicks.

I thought it was a very good match with two quality teams. Swarthmore came into the game 11-5-0 and was ranked #8 in the Mid-Atlantic Region. They are a very talented team and were actually ranked in the top 10 Nationally for the month of September.

Swarthmore got on the board in the 25th minute and carried the play for the beginning of the half. The guys responded very well and finished the half strong and continued to play well into the second half. Both teams had a few chances turned away by the keepers until Jamie Flewellyn tied the game on a nicely placed shot just inside the box.

Both overtimes were tightly contested with only a total of 5 shots recorded. Unfortunately, there has to be a winner in the playoffs and penalty kicks are the answer. We would miss our first attempt and could never catch up. Swarthmore hit their first 4 shots and won the shootout after their keeper made a really nice save on our fourth shooter.

Our final record is 11-3-5 and we remained ranked as the #10 team in the South Atlantic Region. I was really proud of the team’s performance last night against a quality opponent and was glad that we walked off the field without any regrets.

FSU Earns #5 Seed in ECAC Tournament

Our season continues as we were selected to the ECAC South Tournament as the #5 seed. I think we were slighted a little with the seeding, but that’s how it goes sometimes and you just have to show up and win the games in front of you.


We will be traveling to the #4 seed Swarthmore College for a 5:00 pm game on Wednesday evening. The last time we faced Swarthmore was in the ECAC Championship game in 2007. Swarthmore would win the game 3-2 in overtime to claim the ECAC South Championship.

The boys are excited to play in the post-season with a chance to end their season with a win and an ECAC Championship. I hope the late season injuries are not too much for us to overcome. We will have 8 guys who will not be dressing tomorrow and leading scorer Ryan Russell has been limited in training since re-injuring a groin problem in the Salisbury game.

2011 ECAC Division III South Men’s Soccer Championship


First Round – Wednesday, November 9th

No. 8 Wesley College (8-6-5) at No. 1 Alvernia University (15-4-1), 7:30 p.m.
No. 7 Grove City College (12-5-1) at No. 2 Medaille College (17-3-1), 7:00 p.m.
No. 6 Lebanon Valley College (12-8) at No. 3 Marywood University (13-5), 4:00 p.m.
No. 5 Frostburg State University (11-3-4) at No. 4 Swarthmore College (11-6), 5:00 p.m.

Semifinals – Saturday November 12th at highest remaining seed

No. 1/No. 8 winner vs. No. 4/No. 5 winner, TBD
No. 2/No. 7 winner vs. No. 3/No. 6 winner, TBD

Championship – Sunday, November 13th

Conference Playoff Run Ends

Last Wednesday our dreams of going from worst to first came to an end as we lost the CAC semi-final 3-0 to Salisbury.

Salisbury came out ready to play and we didn't. They dictated the play from the start and it never looked like we were on the same level with them. They pressured us early and often and by the 17th minute we were down 2 goals. They finished the half with a 12-1 advantage in shots.

The second half we played better and out shot them 11-7, but it was too little too late. We had a few good opportunities that were saved our just missed the goal, but we could never get the goal to get us back into the game like we did the first time we played them. Salisbury would score with 45 seconds left as we pushed forward to solidify the win and a trip the CAC finals.

It's disappointing to lose in the semi-finals, but considering we came from just one win in CAC play last season I think this was very successful season. As long as we can continue to improve and recruit players that can significantly impact our program than we can continue to close the gap on York and Salisbury.

We now wait for the ECAC bids to come out this afternoon. Hopefully our record is strong enough to receive a top 4 seed which will mean a home game on Wednesday.