Photo By Matt Durisko
By Marquis Frias, Assistant Sports Editor
It was early-season blues for the men’s soccer team on Friday night, dropping a 3-0 decision to Misericordia in non-conference season-opening action at Sassafras Field.
The first period started slow, with both teams taking two shots to no avail. Misericordia (1-0), however, was able to draw blood in the 30th minute when senior midfielder Max Jamieson knocked in a goal, assisted by fellow middie Patrick Sipera.
Susquehanna (0-1) struggled to try and answer back with sloppy offensive possessions. Misericordia was able to take advantage in the 40th minute after senior forward Jaden Haig scored off Jameison’s assist to take a two-goal lead entering halftime.
The second half was more of the same, with Misericordia continuing to apply pressure to the Susquehanna defense. That aggressiveness paid off in the 55th minute when junior forward Shane Macko knocked in a goal assisted by Nicholas Passaniti, making the score 3-0. The score will hold after the aggressiveness seemingly slowed down after this goal.
A shutout in the opening game isn’t the result SU coach Jim Findlay expected, but he still took away a few positives from this game.
“We didn’t stop playing,” said Findlay, now in his 28th season in Selinsgrove. “I liked our aggressiveness throughout the match… I think we just got off to a slow start and they jumped on us. We just couldn’t seem to recover.”
SU will be back in action on Wednesday at Marywood, starting a three-match road stretch before returning home on Sept. 13 to host Haverford.
“We just got to get back to the basics… we struggled with passing, defending and creating opportunities on the attack,” Findlay said. “Got to refine those at training.”