Sluggish play led to Seton Hill getting two goals within 61 seconds of each other in the second half, ultimately giving the Griffins the 2-0 victory over the SRU Men’s Soccer Team, Wednesday at Seton Hill.
“We could have played better,” senior attacker Peter Boylan said. “We came out a little flat and never got better.”
Tom Urquhart and Curtis Gallagher of Seton Hill scored goals at the 51:50 and 52:51 marks in the second half.
The Rock showed a lack of effort when they came out of a disappointing first half, with an even more disappointing second half.
“The one main key change we need to make is effort,” Boylan said. “It wasn’t there. Our overall effort needs to be there from warmups.”
Having two goals that close together can really put a damper on the team for the rest of the game, and that happened on Wednesday. Boylan said there was a miscommunication with the defense and midfield, that allowed Seton Hill attackers to get behind The Rock defense. He said that Seton Hill was hungrier in the box, and Boylan was disappointed that the team came out like that.
Seton Hill held advantages in all the offensive categories except corner kicks, which The Rock held the advantage (5-3). Seton Hill held the advantage in total shots (16-10), shots on goal (7-5) and the most important stat, goals (2-0).
The Rock had shots come off the feet of Ryan Lutke, Mike Ilodigwe, Boylan, George Oakley, Nick Kutcher and Aaron Lambert.
Steven Rerick made his second straight start in goal, and stopped five shots. This was the fifth time this season that Rerick made at least four saves in a start.
SRU is looking to turn its season around on Saturday as they will visit Lock Haven.
“You can’t be on every game,” Boylan said. “We just need to bounce back on Saturday.”
A bounce back would go a long way for this team to make the playoffs. They are on the doorstep, and a win would go a long way to make sure they punch their ticket. The team is currently ranked sixth in the Atlantic Region, and the top four will qualify for the NCAA tournament at the end of the season. A big win against Lock Haven may help them move up into tournament consideration.
