By Eric Brod
Writer
After a heartbreaking loss to Lehigh last week, the men’s soccer team was unable to break its winless streak, playing a scoreless draw against UMBC on the road Tuesday. Following its second straight Patriot League loss on Saturday, this time to American, the team’s record currently stands as 5-5-1.
On Tuesday, the Orange and Blue played a tough, physical match that ended in a scoreless tie. The men outshot UMBC 13-11 on the game, while goalie Tommy Caso ’12 made several spectacular saves in the extra session. Caso recorded his fourth shutout of the season and made five saves. The Bison had several chances to score in the first half, with the best one occurring midway through the first half when Mayowa Alli ’14 nearly connected on a corner kick play following a shot by Brendan Burgdorf ’13 that just missed the net.
On a wet Saturday afternoon at Emmit Field, the rival American University Eagles rallied late past the Bison to drop them to 0-2 in league play. Throughout the game, American’s defense stifled the Bison’s offense attack, limiting to six shots while the Eagle’s goalie Matt Makowski only had to make two saves.
After a rocky first half, the Orange and Blue took the lead after Josh Plump ’13 forced American’s defense into a faulty clearing that resulted in a goal to give the Bison a 1-0 lead with under 20 minutes to play. Just 1:43 later, American answered with a goal by Seth Goldman after a beautiful pass from Cristobal Soto. The Eagles shocked the Bison when Jake Scott netted the game winner past Caso with just 8:22 remaining.
The Bison return to action tomorrow when they travel to Annapolis, Md. to face Navy in search of their first Patriot League victory.
“Although we lost the first two games, we have to keep our head up because last year we lost two Patriot League games and still managed to be successful,” Alli said. “As long as we give every game our all, we should be fine.”