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QUINTIN JAMES
Staff Writer
The Fredonia men’s soccer team tried to get their first win of the season this weekend as they played in the Blue Devil Classic Tournament against Penn State Erie, The Behrend College and Baldwin Wallace University. Coming off three straight losses on the road, the team looked to get some home support and get a win.
Unfortunately, the Blue Devils dropped both games, but a lot of positives came out of it. Both games were very competitive and if it had not been for a couple of mistakes, the Blue Devils would’ve been 2-3. The wet and rainy weather played a large factor in both games.
Friday night’s game was under the lights against Penn St. Behrend which turned into a physical game. Junior Parker Healy scored in the first minute of action assisted by junior Ryan Keller. Penn St. Behrend scored the equalizer and the momentum never went back to Fredonia. The Blue Devils made mistakes on defense and Penn St. Behrend scored against to take the lead in the 24th minute.
As the game went on, the focus was on the refs. A lot of bad calls and questionable yellow cards angered the Blue Devils and the crowd. A brief altercation between the two teams late in the first half sparked some intensity for Fredonia.
As the second half started, the Blue Devils came out flat and were very sloppy with the ball. Instead of playing through the whistle, they complained about non-calls, and Behrend capitalized in the 54th minute when Nick Stewart blasted a shot from the right corner and placed it in the left side of the net. That goal made it 3-1 and the wheels started to come off for the Blue Devils.
Another goal from Behrend four minutes later all but ended the Blue Devils’ hopes for their first win, and the crowd was deflated. However, the Blue Devils did have many chances in the second half to score. Eleven shots in the second half, but three saves by the Behrend goalie and missed set pieces were a problem for the Blue Devils on this rainy day.
The Blue Devils did score in the 75th minute when junior Joey Vucic scored to help the comeback effort, but it was too little too late as the Blue Devils fell 4-2. The Blue Devils outshot Behrend 17-11 and seven shots on goal to six but didn’t capitalize on their chances.
The next day saw the Blue Devils play again, this time against Baldwin Wallace which had lost to Buffalo State the day before. The Blue Devils came out sluggish in this nasty, rainy day and didn’t play well in the first half. It looked like Baldwin came out with a purpose; the Blue Devils didn’t know what hit them.
Baldwin scored three times in the first half, starting the fifth minute when Brayton Thornburg scored his first goal of the season, giving Fredonia an early gut punch. Goals in the 11th and 41st minutes saw the Blue Devils in a familiar situation, down big at half.
Something positive the Blue Devils can take out of this game was that they came out in the second half motivated and full of life. After being outshot 14-2 in the first half, the Blue Devils outscored Baldwin Wallace 13-7 in the second half. The comeback attempt started with sophomore defender Hunter Critchlow heading the ball in the net from a corner kick by junior Sam Greco in the 79th minute. Then senior Paul Reinis beat his defender and got his shot past the Baldwin Wallace goalkeeper in the 87th minute to pull the Blue Devils to one goal down.
The Blue Devils had a chance to tie the game when Healy blasted a long range shot, but a nice save saw the shot hit the crossbar and out for a corner where the Blue Devils nearly scored again but came up short. The team had five corner kicks in the second half; their ability to work the set pieces helped them attempt to come back. The comeback failed, as time expired on the Blue Devils, and they fell 3-2 in a heartbreaker.
Fredonia was outshot, but the effort was strong and they can take a lot of things from this loss to build on for future games. Healy and Greco were named to the Classic all-tournament team.
The Blue Devils are now 0-5 and look to bounce back and get a win Wednesday at home when they welcome Nazareth at 7 p.m.