Photo Courtesy of Natalia Purchiaroni
By Hannah Grove, Staff Writer
Susquehanna University hosted Marywood on Sassafras field Wednesday, Sept. 29, at 7:00 p.m. The men’s soccer team were on their home turf after a double overtime tie to Scranton. Marywood has not won a game yet so going into the game the River Hawks not only had the home advantage but also had high hopes going into the game.
Per usual the team came out hot. Just 30 seconds into the game senior Joe Armstrong, had a shot on goal but was blocked. At the 6:14 mark in the first half senior Brian McKee collected his first goal of the season and was assisted by junior Peter Vassilakos. Vassilakos took a throw-in and launched the ball to McKee’s head where the ball met the back of the net.
Susquehanna ran the show in the first half. The River Hawks had four shots, two saves by junior goalkeeper Gerrit Stech, two corner kicks and three fouls. Marywood was not successful enough to even the score but did have decent defending skills, catching Susquehanna offsides three times in a row. Not only did Susquehanna capitalize on a goal just minutes into the game but they were absolutely dominating the first half.
McKee said, “the thought process was to get a good result and not to take this team lightly despite their record. We had to take care of business tonight and we did so.”
The score going into the second half remained 1-0 Susquehanna but not for long. The River Hawks scored their second goal very early as first-year Olivier Mathieu found the net, with the assist coming from Armstrong, at the 53:27 mark. Marywood was then given a penalty kick and scored a goal for themselves making it a one goal difference.
In the second half Susquehanna had six shots, Stech had three saves, zero corner kicks and four fouls. The second half was won over by Marywood about halfway through. Luckily Susquehanna finished the game with a 2-1 win.
After a successful win over Marywood the men’s team was back home against Drew on Saturday, Oct. 2 at 4:00 p.m. Drew and Susquehanna came out with the same energy but Drew was just a bit more aggressive.
Susquehanna usually capitalizes before their opponent but this time around they were unsuccessful doing so. The first goal didn’t come until the 34:56-minute mark and the goal was scored by Drew. Just three minutes later Drew scored their second goal.
With two minutes left in the half, junior Michael Morelli took a free kick about 5-10 yards outside of the 18-yard box and scored off of it. Due to injuries Morelli was out of most of their games. This was his first goal of the season. Headed into half time the score was 1-2 Drew.
Starting the second half, Drew scored their third and final goal in less than 10 minutes. Susquehanna had about 30 minutes to score two more goals to tie the game and keep Drew from scoring their fourth goal. Unfortunately, the River Hawks could not put another goal in the back of the net. During the game two of Drew’s players received yellow cards. Overall Susquehanna out shot Drew, had more saves, had more corner kicks and less fouls.
