Photo By Michael Lipscomb
By Marquis Frias, Assistant Sports Editor
The men’s soccer team’s first Landmark Conference game of the year ended with a 2-0 loss against Scranton Royals on Saturday at Sassafras Fields.
Although a loss, Susquehanna’s performance against the nationally ranked No. 20 opponent, who have only been scored on once this season, was impressive.
“We knew coming in that this was a good team,” head coach Jim Findlay said. “You hate to lose… but we’re still trying to evolve as a young program.”
The first half featured no scoring from either team, with Scranton (5-0-3) controlling most of the possession. It took 12 minutes for either team to attempt a shot, and Scranton recorded seven shots that didn’t find the back of the net. Susquehanna’s (4-5) lone shot attempt in the first half came from Henry McElroy with under a minute left in the half.
The scoring didn’t take long to kick off in the second half however, as in the 49th minute, Preston Rushmore’s shot got behind goalie Finn Kramer to take a 1-0 lead. Just minutes later, Scranton would capitalize again when Matt Capretto ran past Kramer and knocked in a shot with no one home to increase the lead to 2-0.
Susquehanna would try to crawl back, attempting four shots in the second half but to no avail. Thanks to Scranton’s pesky and aggressive defense, the Royals were able to hold on and remain undefeated.
“We did well defensively holding them to two goals and tried to make adjustments in the second half to be more aggressive offensively… but when you do that it takes away from your defense,” Findlay said.
With the loss, Susquehanna’s three-game win streak was snapped, but they look to ignite another one in their next game.
“You can’t just dwell on the losses… We have to learn from this and move on and hopefully get back on a winning track,” Findlay said.
SU will play at Stevenson on Wednesday before returning to Landmark action at Elizabethtown on Saturday afternoon.