Men’s soccer falls twice on road

By Kevin Prendergast
Collegian Staff
October 11, 2006

Still early in the Atlantic 10 Conference season, the men’s soccer team has its goals in sight. The Explorers experienced two minor setbacks over the weekend in their matches against the Charlotte 49ers (8-3-2) and the Richmond Spiders (6-5-2).

Friday’s match on the road against Charlotte was deadlocked throughout. The intense, heated match-up saw neither team really dominating play. The match was back-and-forth the entire way. La Salle’s head coach Pat Farrell commented on the match.

“It was a high-level game…played well on both sides,” Farrell said.

However, in the 82nd minute, things took a dramatic turn, when Charlotte senior midfielder Pete Palomino knocked in what proved to be the match’s only goal. The Explorers had opportunities, and to beat Charlotte on the road would have been a sweet victory. Charlotte is a very good soccer team and remained undefeated thus far in conference play (4-0).

The Explorers’ Coach Pat Farrell was very impressed by the quality of the match.

“Charlotte was an A-10 playoff team last year, and the game could easily have gone either way,” Farrell said.

However, this was not the only big match that the Explorers played this past weekend. On Sunday, they went to Richmond to face yet another undefeated team in conference play (3-0).

Once again, the Explorers hung in the match and kept it close most of the way. After Richmond got out to an early 1-0 lead, it seemed as if the Explorers had tied up the match when Junior Jeremy Ortiz put the ball into the back of the net.

The goal was quickly called back for a handball penalty. After keeping much of the second half close and forcing a lot of back-and-forth play, Richmond put La Salle away for good with its second goal, scored in the 81st minute of play.

After playing two good matches against formidable opponents, the losses were tough to swallow for the Explorers. What seemed to be a good 1-1 start in conference play has turned into 1-3 very quickly.

Although they are in a deeper hole in conference play, they keep their optimism and focus high, approaching each game one at a time. As long as the Explorers can keep matches close, the ball will start to bounce in their favor.

They will have a shot at redeeming themselves this weekend, when they’ll continue their A-10 season on the road again. They travel to upstate New York to face winless St. Bonaventure on Friday afternoon. Then, on Sunday, they will play a struggling Fordham team that, after being ranked #12 in the nation last week, dropped two matches and has fallen out of the NSCAA Top 25.

The outlook still looks good for the Explorers, who have the opportunity to get back to a .500 conference record this weekend in what look to be two great matches.

prendergastk1@lasalle.edu