It was a weekend of highs and lows which to be honest, is often how the game of soccer goes. We entered the weekend with a chance to get two more Atlantic 10 conference wins and a great set up for the stretch run on the season. We came away with some mixed feelings but confident we are in a great position to do something special with the season.
On Friday we faced Xavier University, which was 1-0 in the conference after defeating local rival Dayton the weekend before. The team started out well, stringing some passes together and combining well in the final third to create some chances. Xavier withstood some early pressure and the game became a battle of the midfield.
Unfortunately, about 20 minutes into the match Geoff Cameron (Attleboro, Mass.) had to come out of the game because of the ill effects of a back injury he sustained the weekend before versus George Washington. With this change in the lineup, Danleigh Borman (Cape Town, South Africa) was moved to the middle which helped to change the tempo of the match and lend a different dynamic to the position. Coming towards the end of the half an XU player found himself behind the Ram defense off a throw-in from 30 yards out and crossed the ball to an open teammate for a 1-0 score. Our guy's were not happy.
The second half began with a flurry as the Rhody boys pressed to find the equalizer. They worked hard and maintained a solid defense but time became a premium. At the suggestion of Assistant Coach Pat Laughlin, central defender Adam Howarth (Isle of White, England) moved up front to provide a "huge" target and the move paid off.
Howarth was played a ball about 30 yards out, playing it over his head to a streaking Lukasz Tumicz (Bisztynek, Poland) who crossed the ball to an on rushing Jeff Gonsalves (Markham, Ontario) who deposited into the goal for the equalizer. The momentum was with the Rams and if there had been five extra minutes added to regulation, I truly believe we could have won it then.
But overtime was it. And in the extra stanza, it took a great cross by Xavier to beat the Rhody defense and we ended the game on a disappointing note.
On Sunday, we awoke to a beautiful morning which proved to be an ominous foreshadow to the day. From the opening to final whistle, the guys were brimming with confidence. They knew it would be their day and Jeff Gonsalves made sure it would happen with two goals on assists from Callum Bissett's (Pencaitland, Scotland) redirected header off a Dawid Badecki (Jalenia Gora, Poland) free kick and a thru pass from Kevin Hamill (Easton, CT) who collected his first assist of the year.
When Jeff scored his second goal, he ran right to Assistant Coach Gareth Elliot to celebrate because not only was it Coach Elliott's birthday, with the goal, Jeff had passed Gareth on URI's all-time scoring list.
Dayton put on a valiant onslaught of driven balls into the Rhody defensive third but freshmen goalie Chris Pennock (Middlesborough, England) held things together and earned his second shutout of the season. It was an acceptable end to the weekend as we all realized that it's hard to win on the road and with the victory over Dayton, we were still in the hunt for the A-10 title.
This upcoming weekend is an important one as it pits us against two other Atlantic 10 foes as well as being Homecoming. Top that with of our recruits being on campus and you have pretty busy weekend. We hope you all can join us for one, if not both, of our games which are at 7:00 pm on Friday night versus Temple University* and Sunday afternoon at 1:00 pm versus St. Joseph's University.
*NOTE: Prior to the match, the Westerly High School Girls will take on the 2005 RI State Champion Prout School Girls with play at 4:00 pm. Prout is coached by former URI player Kevin Kennedy. All proceeds from the game will go to benefit the Katie Decubellis Scholarship Foundation.
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