By James Hanley
SC Staff Writer
On September 13, the East Stroudsburg University men’s soccer team hosted the St. Thomas Aquinas Spartans at Eiler-Martin Stadium.
The Warriors (1-2-0) came into the match with a recent away victory against Felician College. The Spartan’s (1-1-0) also acquired a recent victory in their prior match against Saint Rose College.
Before the game kicked off, Warriors head coach Rob Berkowitz had a strategy he wanted to execute: “I want to start a younger lineup for today’s game, we’ll have five freshman athletes playing for us today. I know it’ll be a tough match but it’ll be good for their experience. I believe St. Thomas is our toughest opponent we’ve faced so far, but I believe we will get a good result from the game.”
The Warriors opted to line up in a very offensive 4 – 3 – 3 formation for the game while the Spartan’s chose a more conservative 4 – 4 – 2 formation.
The game started off lively, with both sides playing aggressively and pushing for a goal. Even though both sides had ample opportunities to pull ahead in the first half, they went into halftime in a scoreless tie.
During the second half, the action picked up rather quickly with Laurie Child scoring for the Spartans off a deflected shot and giving the Spartans’ a 1 – 0 lead.
In the 74th minute the Warriors launched a well-timed counter – attack and through individual brilliance, freshman Christian Bukowski was able to tie the game up with a fantastic solo strike on goal.
For the rest of the game the Warriors were on top but couldn’t seem to find that final ball that would grant them the victory.
The game went to overtime, and, after a scoreless extra session, eventually resulted in a 1 – 1 draw.
After the game Coach Berkowitz said, “I felt the result of the game was fair seeing how the run of play went for both sides. The boys played well and hopefully our form will carry over to the next game.”
With this draw the Warriors’ season record goes to (1-2-1). Following back to back games on September 19 and 20 against Gannon and Mercyhurst, respectively, the Warriors’ next home game will be a rivalry game against Bloomsburg University, who are currently 0-1-1, on Wednesday September 24 at 4:30 PM.
Email James at:
jhanley@live.esu.edu