Photo Courtesy of Victoria Durgin
By Jenna Horning, Staff Writer
Sophomore forward Mike Morelli scored the only goal in the men’s soccer intra-squad scrimmage allowing the maroon team to defeat the white team 1-0 Saturday morning at Sassafras field.
Although the lasting impact of COVID-19 has taken away a full season for fall sports, Susquehanna decided to split teams and have scrimmages to allow for athletes on the field hockey and soccer teams to play and fans to watch and support.
Morelli tallied a goal with 23:15 left to play in the first half and later had another shot on goal during the second half.
Goalkeeper for the maroon team, senior Ben King, also had a large impact on the outcome of the scrimmage by posting a shutout.
During the first half, the maroon team created a lot of pressure offensively, and both teams each had a series of corner kicks to end the half with a score of 1-0.
The white team was able to get off more shots, and they were more aggressive in the second half, but they did not get past King, who had a total of three saves in the second and four overall.
Both teams put up a strong defensive performance in the second half, where neither team allowed the other to score to make the final score 1-0 maroon.
“With our one goal lead in the second half we knew that we needed to keep the ball and not crumble under pressure with [the white team’s] intensity,” freshman midfielder for the maroon team, Adrian Dilascio, said. “We knew we had to keep composure on the ball and defensively do what we did in the first half.”
Despite this being a different environment for both new and returning players, it highlighted the abilities of all the athletes on the men’s soccer team and allowed them to play a friendly, but competitive game.
“We just finished training and the game topped off what we have done and learned so far. Moving forward I’m looking forward to having a season and getting to know everyone better,” freshman midfielder for the white team, Alex Ranauto, said.