Men’s soccer starts 2018 season with two losses

Susquehanna men’s soccer fell to York College 3-1 despite being up at the half on Sunday in Selinsgrove.

River Hawks junior goalkeeper Matt Ellingworth had four saves on the day combatting the Spartans notable offensive pressure.

Junior midfielder Alex Graul had the only goal for Susquehanna and led the team in shots on goal with two.

The River Hawks struggled to get the ball on York’s side of the field for the entire first half of play, as the Spartans dominated possession early.

Despite the pressure from York, which led to a 11–5 differential in shots on goal, Susquehanna held the score to 0–0 for the first 29 minutes of regulation.

Susquehanna would catch a break with a York handball on a shot inside the box. Graul would finish his attempt by beating York sophomore goalkeeper Billy Bridegum with a strike to the low-left post to give Susquehanna a 1-0 lead.

“I was happy to be able to convert the penalty and score a goal,” Graul said. “[But] I was a little bit unlucky in the second half to hit the crossbar.”

An even competition led into halftime with Susquehanna up 1–0, but York came out strong and scored three times. They remained uncontested for the rest of the game.

York sophomore forward Zion Friday overcame a slide tackle to steal the lead, 2–1, in the 64th minute.

A controversial yellow card soon after caused tempers to flair on the field, which increased the intensity of the game late in the second half.

York junior midfielder Sam Johnson solidified the lead to 3–1, leaving the final 22 minutes scoreless with multiple unsuccessful corner kicks from both teams.

The Susquehanna men’s soccer team had a second game this week on Wednesday, Sept. 5 against conference-foe Lycoming College. The River Hawks were again unsuccessful and fell to the Warriors 1–0.

The first half had shots on goal from both teams but Lycoming dominated with nine to Susquehanna’s one. With 2:33 left in the first, Lycoming got a shot in the net off a header but were called off sides ending the half at 0–0.

In the 51st minute, Warriors junior defenseman Zach Raut broke the tie for the only goal of the game with a hard shot off a deflection. The rest of the game had high intensity and tension from both teams, which led to three yellow cards.

Ellingworth had another good showing with seven saves on the day.

Susquehanna enters their fourth game with a 0–3 record against Ursinus College on Saturday Sept. 8 at 7 p.m.

Despite an unsuccessful weekend, senior captain Noah Carles explains the teams plans for the semester.

“We will be working on team comradery and physicality in the weight room to be successful this season. We are going to take it one game at a time and try and go 1-0.”

Graul agreed that with hard work in training, the River Hawks will get results in the rest of the season.

“Unfortunately, the result didn’t go our way this weekend vs York but I think we have a really strong group of guys this year and I think we are going to have a successful season.”

Susquehanna men’s soccer returns to Sassafras field on Saturday, September 15 to face Arcadia University at 1 p.m.