Nov. 11, 2007
Final Stats
Down 4-0, the Saint Joseph's men's soccer team dug deep in their quest to prolong their season. They came up with two late goals on freshman Colin Baker free kicks to cut the lead in half, but the strong rally wasn't enough as Rhode Island held on to a 4-2 win at Finnesey Field. The win secured second place for URI (9-7-2 overall, 7-1-1 A-10) and left SJU (5-12-1 overall, 4-5 A-10) out of the Atlantic 10 Tournament.
SJU's play in the first half was complacent, allowing the Rams nine shots before the Hawks could tally one. Rhode Island took advantage 24 minutes in on a quick passing play by Dawid Badecki and Kedan Crosby who assisted on a Geoffrey Cameron goal.
Not a whole two minutes went by before the Rams made it 2-0 when Callum Bisset headed in a corner kick by Danleigh Borman. URI took the 2-0 lead into the break and held a decisive 10-3 advantage in shots.
The beginning of the second half saw much of the same as long balls scorched the Hawk defense. Lukasz Tumicz scored his eleventh and what proved to be the game-winning goal on a breakaway in the 48th minute. Ten minutes later, Tumicz struck again on a through ball played by Danleigh Borman.
The Hawks started pressing the play to the Rams' side of the field and a scramble in front of the penalty area led to a hand ball by URI keeper Chris Pennock in the 74th minute. Baker then sent the free kick over the wall and tucked it inside the left post to cut the URI lead to 4-1.
Ten minutes later, senior Pat Duddy earned a free kick from the left side of the penalty area. This time Baker's shot crossed in front of the net, through a sea of players and into the far side to make it 4-2.
In the 87th minute Saint Joseph's had another scoring opportunity when Giacamo DiLisi headed a ball in front of the net and Alex Koufacos almost sent it past Pennock, but Pennock was up to the task.
For the game Rhode Island out-shot the Hawks 19-12 overall, 11-4 for shots on goal. Bryan Benedict made seven saves in goal for SJU while Pennock came up with just two.
Before the match, SJU honored its seven seniors -- Patrick Duddy, Jim Slover, Craig Olsen, Mike McBride, Ian Kane, Cliff Jones, and Alex Koufacos -- for Senior Day.
