2008 Woodie Awards
Men's soccer splits pair in PSAC
By Travis Pickens
Issue date: 10/14/05 Section: Sports
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After winning five straight matches, four of them conference games, the Rock fell to West Chester, 2-0 Wednesday afternoon.
With the loss, the Rock (8-6-1 overall, 7-4-1 PSAC) fell out of first place in the PSAC thanks to California (Pa.) defeating Kutztown. Cal (9-5-0, 8-4-0) which has 24 points, owns a slim lead over SRU. East Stroudsburg (9-4-1, 7-4-0) sits in third place with 21 points, one point behind the Rock.
"Maybe it's good for us to lose a game," coach Matt Thompson said. "I think maybe we were getting a little bit too cocky. We're still a good side, but we still have to work hard and do the little things. Some of the little things we didn't do today."
Goalkeeper Chris Cook kept SRU close thanks to two highlight-reel saves in the first half. In the fifth minute, Cook dove to his left to turn away the Golden Rams' first chance. Just before halftime, Frank DeMas was denied at point-blank range thanks to Cook's save.
West Chester (6-4-1, 7-5-2) kept the pressure rolling in the second half, finding the net in the 57th minute. Ricky Mucelli sent a free kick into the box that Ryan Hunter deflected into Cook. The Rock goalkeeper couldn't control the shot and Hunter knocked the rebound in the net to give West Chester a 1-0 lead.
"The first goal was disappointing from Chris' point of view," Thompson said. "He thinks he should have held onto it maybe. It was tough. It was a hard shot."
The goal was set up by a foul called against the Rock. The match saw 42 fouls as both teams were whistled 21 times.
"It was a bit of a dirty game," Thompson said. "The referee should have taken a little bit better control than what he did. But I'm not going to blame him for anything."
Following West Chester's goal, SRU finally came alive on offense, creating four scoring chances. The Rock wound up empty each time, twice missing with shots that floated above the crossbar.
"We didn't create anything until we were down 1-0," Thompson said. "But it was too late by then. It was a disappointment, but we didn't think we were going to go the rest of the season unbeaten."
The Rams put the game away in the 87th minute via Bill Harris' breakaway goal. Harris outran SRU defender Chris Byers before burying his shot past Cook.
"They're playing much better," Thompson said. "We've been working on that a lot more in practice. The second goal we gave away, we were pushing up, trying to get the equalizer."
On Saturday, the Rock beat Lock Haven, 1-0, to sweep the season series from the Bald Eagles. The lone goal came from Nick Christy in the 27th minute. The goal was unassisted.
"It really brought our team's spirit up," Christy said. "It really got everybody going. We had a setback (against WCU), but we'll keep pushing forward."
On Monday, Christy was named the PSAC player of the week for the week of Oct. 3-10. Christy is the first SRU player this season to win the award.
"It's really a team thing," Christy said. "It's a good honor to have I guess."
