No. 19 Sea Gulls Slip by Bobcats

Sunday afternoon we faced our second nationally ranked team in the last two weeks.  Unfortunately, despite playing one of our better games of the year, we walked off in defeat 1-0 to Salisbury University.

On a cool and breezy afternoon and with a great Homecoming crowd behind them the boys came out and played toe-to-toe with the nationally ranked Salisbury Sea Gulls.  Both teams boast nationally ranked defenses and it showed as there was not many scoring opportunities in the first half.  We held a 4-2 advantage in shots, but both defenses were solid and didn't allow any legitimate scoring opportunities.

I thought it was our best game all year as far as keeping possession and creating an attack rather than just sitting back and defending.  We felt we were playing them even throughout the game and thought we were going to get the breakthrough for the game winner at any moment.

Salisbury held a 5-4 advantage on shots in the 2nd half and got the game winner in the 84th minute. We were solid the whole game in the back except for this one sequence where we left a man open for a pass near the top of the box and then failed to track the give-n-go which allowed the Salisbury attacker to get in behind the back line and slot the ball past our keeper.

The defeat was a heart breaker for the boys and the loss sets us back in the CAC standings with 3-2-1 record and drops us to the 5th seed, if playoffs were to start today.  Overall we are 8-4-3 and have 3 games remaining.

We are on the road Wednesday for a vital game against Penn St. Harrisburg.  PSU sits in the 6th spot with 3-3 record in the CAC.

Tesfu Hat Trick Lifts Bobcats

Sophomore Nabayee Tesfu posted his first career hat trick as we rallied past York (Pa.) for a 3-2 win in CAC action, Wednesday.

Tesfu scored the only goal of the first half and later scored back-to-back goals in the second to complete the comeback.

Tesfu, who entered the game with just two goals on the season, found the net for the first time just 2:29 into action when Spartan keeper Charlie Johnson bobbled a pass that Tesfu buried in the net.

Tesfu Goal: http://youtu.be/a2PSpj-mvrQ

York (4-6-4, 1-3-1 CAC) out-shot us in the opening half, 8-6, but we held the narrow 1-0 lead into the break.  York had better intensity to start the 2nd half and began to dictate the flow of the game. At 56:39 a York player tapped in a loose ball off a free kick to knot the contest at 1-1 and just over five minutes later York scored on a corner kick and grabbed a 2-1 lead.  The marking on both set pieces was suspect and led to open York players being first to the ball in our box.

However, Tesfu had the final say with the game's final two goals. At 74:23, goalkeeper Hassan Mostafa sent a kick to the York 18-yard box to a charging Tesfu who flipped a shot over the York keeper for the 2-2 tie.

Tesfu Goal: http://youtu.be/wt4ggwSiOMg

Late in the 82^nd minute, Tesfu completed the trifecta off an assist from freshman Hunter Strine for the 3-2 victory.

Tesfu goal:  http://youtu.be/wWSmRCWq96w

Mostafa, the reigning CAC Defensive Player of the Week, made four saves for his eighth win.

Our record now stands at 8-3-3 and 3-1-1 in the CAC.  We host Salisbury at 2:00 pm on Sunday for Homecoming Weekend..

Mostafa One of the Top Goalkeepers in the Country

Goalkeeper Hassan Mostafa

For the second time in three weeks, Frostburg sophomore keeper Hassan Mostafa has been named the Capital Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Week as announced by the league office, Monday afternoon.

Mostafa posted two shutouts last week and registered 19 saves as the Bobcats finished 1-0-1. He opened the week with a seven-save effort in a 1-0 victory over Mary Washington and followed it up with a career-high 12 saves including a penalty kick save in a 0-0 draw with ninth-ranked Christopher Newport.

His two shutouts raise his season total to seven (nine combined shutouts) and the Columbia, Md. native leads the CAC in saves percentage (.940), goals against (4), goals against average (0.31) and he is second saves (63).

Mostafa is ranked #2 in the nation in save percentage and #5 in goals against average before this weekends shutout of CNU.  His defense leads the nation in save percentage and is #2 in the country in goals against average.

Bobcats Battle #9 Ranked Captains to Draw

Sophomore GK Hassan Mostafa

Saturday afternoon the boys faced their toughest opponent of the year in Christopher Newport University. CNU came into the game as the #9 ranked team in the country and boasting a record of 11-1-1.

It's no surprise that our defense played extremely well, but to hold CNU to a 0-0 draw was an accomplishment.  We started the game with six freshman and three sophomores in the starting line-up. This was the first game CNU was held scoreless all year and as the game progressed you could see a bit of confidence beginning to grow in our youngsters.

The first half was more about absorbing the pressure and doing our best to stay organized in the back. I was very pleased with our work rate and how we competed for all 50/50 balls and loose balls as well.  We were definitely under some duress early in the game.  CNU would register a 12-3 advantage in shots, but the defense was up to the test including a huge penalty kick save by Hassan Mostafa midway through the half.  Brandon Lutz, a senior and first year player for us, was huge in his role as the ball winner in the center of the park.  He was instrumental in breaking up any attack CNU tried to establish in the air.

Senior Defender Brandon Lutz

The second half we began to push back a little and made it a more competitive game.  We had a few opportunities from the run of play and our set pieces we dangerous and almost got us on the board. The shot count was 7-3 in favor of CNU in the 2nd half.

Mostafa was big throughout the contest and made a few key saves when we needed him to keep us in the game.  Our defense leads the nation in overall save percentage and is #2 in the country in goals against average.  Mostafa is #5 in the country in GAA and #2 in save percentage.

We now stand at 7-3-3 and 2-1-1 in the CAC.  The playoffs are now wide open as there have been several upsets this past week.  It doesn't look like there will be any easy games as we get to the home stretch.

We have defending conference champion York at home on Wednesday at 5pm and then in-state rival Salisbury will be here on Sunday for a 2 pm match-up on Homecoming weekend.

Basham's Late Goal Lifts Bobcats Over Mary Washington

Freshman Brett Basham

Freshman Brett Basham scored in the 87th minute on a great sliding volley to lead us past visiting Mary Washington 1-0.

Wednesday night we faced Mary Washington in a crucial CAC match-up.  After dropping points to St. Mary's on Saturday we felt it would be very important to get a win against a very strong UMW team.

The first half was pretty even with few chances for either team.  UMW held a slim 6-5 lead in shots as most of the game was being contested in the midfield.

Second half possession began to favor Mary Washington as we began to drop off our pressure and allowed UMW to get their backs forward and they were successful in finding service into their big forwards.

In typical Frostburg style we defended well and looked to get numbers forward in transition.  When called upon to make the big save Hassan Mostafa was on point and kept Mary Washington off the board for his seventh shut-out of the season.

With the game winding down we were awarded a corner kick from the right side of the field.  After the initial service was contested Mitchell Muise found the ball and played it back out to Nabayee Tesfu who served a great ball back post.  Brett Basham made a great run towards the far post and after the ball just missed the head of a charging Rodrigo Valenzuela Basham was able to slide and volley home the winner with 2:30 remaining to play.

Basham Goal - http://youtu.be/ttp9C8VSfT0

On Saturday we will face conference favorite and #12 ranked team in the nation Christopher Newport at 2pm at Bobcat Stadium.

FSU Loses First CAC Contest to St. Mary's

We suffered a tough loss on Saturday afternoon as we fell to St. Mary's College 1-0.

I thought the game could have gone either way.  Both teams played well and were pretty evenly matched throughout the contest.  Our offense preformed much better, but a post and few good saves by the keeper kept us off the score sheet and was enough to lead St. Mary's to victory.

St. Mary's got their game winner late in the first half when we left a man open on a corner kick and he was able to get a head on it and put it towards the corner passed the out-stretched arms of our goalkeeper.

I was pleased with our performance overall and thought we did some good things with our movement off the ball and our possession in the attacking third.  We still need to fine tune a little more to make sure we have the consistency needed to compete with the top teams as we head into the next two weeks.

Mary Washington will be in town tomorrow night for our third conference game of the season.  It's too early to start talking playoff scenarios, but getting the three points would be crucial after dropping points this past Saturday.

Bobcats Held to Scoreless Draw

We concluded our non-conference season on Tuesday night at Waynesburg.  We were disappointed in the 0-0 draw, but we did record another shut-out and were able to play every healthy player on the roster so it wasn't all bad.

Hassan Mostafa and Jackson Bicknell combined for our seventh shut-out of the season and fifth in a row.

The same struggles we've seen most of the year continue to be our achilles heel.  We had plenty of possession and counter attacking chances, but we were not consistent enough with our final third passes to create good goal scoring opportunities.

The last few games we found a way to get the goal we needed to win the game and that's what a good team does, finds a way to win.  We couldn't do it on Tuesday night and had to settle for the draw.

We end non-conference play with a 5-2-2 record which isn't bad, but we feel we dropped a couple of points that we shouldn't have.

CAC play picks back up this weekend as we travel to St. Mary's College on Saturday.  This is another important road match with playoff implications as St. Mary's is stronger than they were last year and looks to get back in the playoff picture.

After St. Mary's we will be home for four games; Mary Washington, Christopher Newport, York, and Salisbury.  We'll have a good idea of our playoff future after this home stand.