By Cory Nidoh
Opinion Editor

In a non-conference game against Goldey-Beacom College, the East Stroudsburg University Warriors’ men’s soccer team fell by the score of 6-2 in Wilmington, Delaware last Thursday.

ESU sophomore midfielder Austin Bogart scored his first two goals in his career as a Warrior, but it proved to be not enough as the Lightning pulled away scoring three goals in the last 12 minutes of the game for the victory.

The Lightning, led by the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) player of the week Luiz Ristow, had a goal and two assists in the win over ESU.

Bogart scored in the 46th minute when freshman midfielder Enrique Ruiz set him up with an assist to cut the deficit to 3-1.

In the 68th minute, Bogart struck again scoring on a penalty kick closing the gap to make it a 3-2 deficit. However, the Lightning scored on two penalty kicks, and Ristow set up another goal with an assist to Erik Tapper to take the commanding lead and eventual victory.

The Warriors were outshot in the first half 13-5 and finished being outshot 20-9 in the loss. Aside from Bogart, multiple Warriors had shots on goals but couldn’t find the net as midfielders Casey Choffy, Drew Damico, and Andrew McGinley, the team leader in goals with three and points with seven, and Casey Albino all had shots on goals in the game.

The loss marked the last non-conference game of the season for ESU posting a 2-4-1 record against non-conference foes and a 4-7-1 overall record on the season.

ESU will play against Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference teams for the rest of the year where the Warriors are 2-3 on the season with back-to-back wins against Lock Haven and West Chester in the last week of September.

Moving forward, this season has been more productive for the Warriors in terms of total wins as their four wins so far this season are the most since 2011, where they went 5-8-4 that year.

The Warriors are trying to get back to their PSAC powerhouse status where they won 13 PSAC Championships in 16 years from 1992-2007.

However, their quest back to PSAC prominence hit a snag on Tuesday evening in Millersville as the Warriors fell to the Marauders 2-0 following goals from Christopher Sosa and Jamie Vazquez.

With the loss, ESU fell to 4-8-1 (2-4 in the PSAC). The Warriors are back at Eiler-Martin Stadium on Saturday night at 7:00 PM.

Email Cory at:
cnidoh@live.esu.edu