The Men’s soccer team got off to a rough start this week, falling to Old Dominion 31 last Sunday in the final game of the Stihl Soccer Classic.
The game was evenly played from a statistical stand point, but only senior Matt Beverin was able to put one past Old Dominion’s goaltender Victor Francoz.
This was the final game in the tournament for the Hawks and going 11 against ranked opponents is something positive that they were able to walk away with.
The Hawks would return home and action picked up again for the Hawks on Friday evening against instate rival Seton Hall University. It was the first night game held, since the student body returned from their summer vacation.
The game was loaded with action. Seton Hall dominated field position in the first five minutes of the game, but it would be the only five minutes they had some sort of control over the game.
The momentum began to swing when freshman Kalle Sotka narrowly missed scoring a goal on a bicycle kick towards the end of the minute. Just moments following this opportunity the Hawks cashed in the 12th minute when Andres Penfold got the Hawks on the board in the first half.
Sotka got another opportunity for a goal just four minutes later and he did not let it go to waste, which made the score 20 Hawks. The goal came off a corner kick from Ryan Clark and according to Sotka it was an easy goal. “It was a perfect free kick by RC (Ryan Clark). He saw I was wide open in the near post and I just flicked it in.”
From here on out it was all Hawks. Before the first half came to a close the Hawks built up their lead to 30 when sophomore Joseph Schmid scored in the 33rd minute.
The second half was relatively quiet aside from some yellow cards issued to both teams, but the Hawks were able to keep their composure
“I thought their experience shone through today. We kept our composure and I thought maybe they were trying to unsettle us a little bit, but I believe our guys did a great job of staying composed,” said head coach Robert McCourt.
Sunday afternoon, the Hawks looked to continue their winning ways against Bucknell. Unfortunately, the Hawks were not able to build off their big win against Seton Hall, as they fell 20 to Bucknell.
Bucknell was able to cash in on two corner kicks, as sophomore defender Mayowa Alli scored both of the Bison’s goals.
The Hawks came out flat getting outshot 73 in the first half, but responded in the second half outshooting Bucknell 80. However, the Hawks were never able to get one by Bison goaltender Tommy Caso and the Hawks suffered a rare home loss.
The opposition does not get any easier for the Hawks, as they will be facing two more quality nonconference teams. They face Columbia at Columbia on Thursday night at 7:00 pm and they face Princeton at home on Sunday afternoon at 1:00 pm on the Great Lawn.
PHOTO COURTESY of Jim Reme
