FSU Gets Late Tally to Draw with McDaniel

Junior, Pablo Torrano

On Wednesday night the McDaniel College men's soccer team came close to handing the Bobcats their first loss of the season. A late goal by Pablo Torrano helped FSU remain unbeaten when he tied the match 1-1 in the 85^th minute.

We tied McDaniel last year and knew they would put up a fight again this year as they have been playing a very competitive schedule. Dealing with some injuries and a suspension we were hoping we would still have enough offensive fire power to put McDaniel away. Starting center back Chris Jones was out due to a red card suspension and our other starting center back Bernard Fatusin tried to return after being out for two weeks, but only played 5 minutes before being pulled for his recurring injury. Reserve center back Brandon Zurita has filled in nicely, but was forced out of the game with an ankle injury early in the second half.

With the backline being pieced together it was probably inevitable that we would make a mistake and when we did McDaniel would capitalize. After failing to clear a ball out of the box due to a miss kick a McDaniel player beat an FSU player to the far post and touched the ball past the keeper for a 1-0 lead. It was McDaniel's only shot of the half, but they made it count.

We played fairly well with the revamped line-up, but could not find the tying goal. Finally with 5 minutes remaining Ryan Russell would serve a nice ball from the left flank into the box and Pablo Torrano would go up and beat two McDaniel players to the ball to head in the tying goal. I thought after we tied the game that we would have enough momentum to get the winner, but we fell just short. We limited McDaniel to just 3 shots on goal, but we were unable to find that second goal and had to settle for the tie.

We are on the road this weekend for an important CAC match against St. Mary's College. We are hopeful to get some of the players back healthy and the return of Chris Jones should fortify the backline.

FSU Downs Wesley

Junior Bryan Whitmore

We picked up our first CAC win of the season with a hard fought 2-0 victory of Wesley College on Saturday afternoon.

With only the one tie against Salisbury in CAC play it was going to be important for us to go on the road and earn our first conference win of the season. Wesley came into the game coming off a win over Eastern Mennonite and two one goal losses before that so we knew it would be a tough match. 

We played well in the first half and did a good job of not letting their offense get on track. Ryan Russell struck early in the second half when he avoided a collision between the Wesley GK and a defender and found himself all alone in front of the goal for the easy knock in. Wesley seemed to grab some momentum after the goal as we probably sat back and played a little too defensively. They saw more possession of the ball in the middle third, but our defense held strong and did not allow many scoring opportunities. In the 79th minute the midfielders found Russell for a quick a counter attack and as the defense closed Ryan down he slid the ball across the top of the box where Bryan Whitmore hit a nice one-touch finish into the side-netting to seal the game.

It was a hard fought game by both teams and a good road win for us to take us to 1-0-1 in CAC play. Next up is a non-conference match against McDaniel College on Wednesday at 7pm at Bobcat Stadium.

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