October 4, 2010

Dear Alumni & Friends,

I had a whirlwind of a Sunday with church, Sunday School, Chariho Youth Soccer games with my kids Megan and Michael (Megan’s team won their first game 2-0 and Michael tied 3-3, scoring 2 goals) and then out to dinner with Trish and Terry Casey '85 - which was the first time Sheila and I have been out in quite a while. So, I am a little late with the weekend update.

Saturday was an emotional roller coaster of a night that ended on a bright note in a 1-1 draw with Fairfield. For those of you who were there, it was an ending that you will not see very often in your goalkeeper scoring a goal, other than on a penalty shot.

It was a beautiful night and we had a good crowd - which again included a lot of our supporters from Chariho Youth Soccer. We started out very sharp and things were going well until unfortunately a miscommunication between Peyton Warwick (Prairie Village, KS) and Dwayne Williams (Westmoreland, Jamaica) ended with the ball at a Stag forward's foot with an open goal in front of him for the 1-0 lead.

It was a bit deflating because things had started so well but the guys preserved and kept at it, creating good chances including a ball that freshmen Tom Palmer (Hummelstown, PA) drove across the front of the goal that sophomore forward Thomas Lindroos (Espoo, Finland) just couldn’t quite reach. Central defender Franco Lo Presti (Scarborough, Ontario) nearly got us the equalizer on a corner so we went into the break looking ahead to the second half.

We came out of half-time with a fire, led by some dangerous runs forward by co-captain Matt Preyss (Chagrin Falls, OH) and inspired combination play by senior Greg Balicki (Wilbraham, MA), junior forward Reece Markman (Dallas, TX) and junior David Malloy (Oxford, England) - who had dropped into the midfield. We seemed to have the best of the second stanza, fighting, scratching and clawing our way through the game.

We’ve talked a lot about making sure we finish the game strong and we did just that, earning a corner kick with about 1 minute left in regulation. We pushed everyone in - including goalkeeper Peyton Warwick. We got great service from senior Jon Pereira (Barrington, RI) that found David Malloy’s head and what looked to be the tying goal. But the ball hit a Fairfield defender in the chest, dropped down and forward/goalkeeper Warwick lashed into the goal. WOW! An ESPN top 10 moment and great retribution Peyton, whose plus/minus in hockey would have been a 0 for the night.



In overtime both teams had their chances but the best came when Pereira hit a volley from about 10 yards out that front the bench area looked as though it had eyes but only a good save by the Stags goalkeeper kept it a draw. We would have loved the win but in the end the tie was an important stepping stone going into the second season that is Atlantic 10 Conference play.

It all begins this weekend with an A-10 doubleheader starting with Friday’s clash with defending regular season champion Dayton at 7:00 pm. Then on Sunday, we take on the second of our Ohio opponents with a mid-day match vs. Xavier at Noon... PLEASE NOTE THIS IS A CHANGE IN START TIME. ADMISSION IS FREE so come one come all to cheer for your hometown boys!

GO RAMS!
Coach O’C