The Saint Xavier University Men’s Soccer team finally got to do something they haven’t done in three games: celebrate scoring a goal.
Last Tuesday the men of SXU soccer took on the Goshen College Maple Leafs at Bruce R. Deaton Memorial Field. The team was looking for its first win and some offense in the process.
They did eventually find the back of the net in this game, but the Cougars were defeated 2-1, dropping to 0-5 on the season. It was close game for the Cougars, who tried hard to take this one in front of the home crowd.
The Cougars have had difficulty lately stopping teams from scoring early. The trend continued Tuesday.
The Maple Leafs’ senior midfielder Jordan Berkey scored in the 20th minute to give his team a 1-0 lead early on. He scored using a header off of a free kick from his teammate sophomore midfielder Chris Vendrely.
In the second half at the 55th minute the Maple Leafs would tack on another one to double their lead, making it 2-0. Near the 76th minute of play the Cougars ended their long three-and-a-half game scoreless streak that felt like a drought in the desert.
Brandon Simoes, the junior midfielder from Brampton, Ontario, Canada, scored on a penalty shot to cut the deficit in half at 2-1, but the Cougars wouldn’t score again in this game. They walked off the field in defeat but with a ray of hope, as they did score a goal this time.
The Cougars finished with eight shots on goal and a total of 13 for the game. Freshman midfielder Edgar Ruiz had two shots on goal and sophomore forward Marco Gutierrez also had two.
The Cougars are still looking for their first win of the season. Junior goal keeper AJ Pfatschbacher made his fifth consecutive start of the season for the Cougars and he made his prescence felt with five saves against the Maple Leafs.
The team will try to win its first game of the season again on September 18 at Bruce R. Deaton Memorial Field against Cornerstone University (Mich.) at 7 p.m.
Damone Griffin
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