Sept. 25, 2011

Box Score

Philadephia, Pa. - Saint Joseph's men's soccer dropped a hard fought match 1-0 as they traveled up to Iona to take on the Gaels. This game marks the third straight contest in which the Hawks lost by a single goal. The team played very well against a very dangerous and skilled Iona team. The game started out back and forth with equal opportunities on both ends of the field. SJU had the better of the chances early in the game.

Iona scored their 1st goals on a Direct Free Kick from 20 yards out. Iona's Franklin Castellanos struck a left footed shot over the wall, redirecting off a SJU player past Andrew D'Ottavi. If the ball would not have been deflected, D'Ottavi would have had an opportunity to stop the shot.

SJU did not waiver and kept battling hard. Alex Critzos created a couple dangerous opportunities but could not convert. When asked about the play of his striker, head coach Don D'Ambra replied, "Alex Critzos made a difference in the game today; he had good presence, worked hard to get the ball and created some chances for himself."

Iona scored their 2nd goal by penetrating through the middle with very creative combination play. An Iona forward took a shot and D'Ottavi make a tremendous save but the rebound went straight to Iona's Brais Garcia player who finished the goal.

In the second half, SJU kept their poise but relentlessly holding Iona off the scoring board and creating a few very good chances.

In the attacking third, Tom Smart redirected a pass to Alex Critzos who volleyed a shot in the far corner making it 2-1. SJU gained good momentum and created good opportunities. Later in the second half, Ryan McFadden found himself in front of the goal with a point blank shot and could not convert to tie the game. D'Ambra was pleased with the playoff his Hawks today by saying "I was proud of the team today, they battled for 90 minutes against a very talented Iona team. They worked very hard to cut Iona's lead in half and created some good opportunities late to give us an opportunity to tie the game. Unfortunately, we came up short but there were a lot of positives to take from this game."

The toughness of the defense showed up today like it has all season, holding a potent offense to two goals. "I thought that Tim Brennan did an excellent job of containing their most dangerous striker which relieved our back line of a lot of pressure" added D'Ambra about the defense.

The men return home this Wednesday to face Villanova before hitting the road for three straight away games. The game is set to begin at 7:00 pm.