Men’s soccer wins third conference match

The University of Rhode Island men’s soccer team lost to Fordham University last Wednesday 1-0 in a rematch of last year’s Atlantic 10 Tournament final. On Saturday Rhode Island defeated La Salle University 2-1 in overtime for their third conference victory on the season.

Fordham’s Andres Penfold scored the only goal of the match just prior to the 18th minute in the first half after taking advantage of a Rhode Island defensive mishap. Rhode Island was unable to get a shot-on-goal in the first half.

Although Rhode Island outshot Fordham 4-2 overall in the first half, they were unable to take advantage of their opportunities. With just under 20 minutes remaining in the second half, Rhode Island had two of their best chances to even up the score. Rhode Island junior Wesley Matthews and senior Ryan Oakley each had cracks at knotting the score up but were unable to get past Fordham goalkeeper Rashid Nuhu.

Oakley led all Rhode Island players with three shots-on-net. Rhode Island outshot Fordham 12-8 in total, however, only had three shots-on-goal to Fordham’s five.

“We out shot them, however, the difference was they finished a chance and we couldn’t put one in the back of the net,” head coach Gareth Elliott said. “I thought we played well and created but we couldn’t finish our opportunities.”

Rhode Island visited La Salle for their second Atlantic-10 match of the week. With 27 minutes gone in the first half, Rhode Island freshman Liam Daley put the Rams on the scoreboard with the first goal of his career. Daley finished a top-right-corner rip following up freshman Emil Jensen Sunde’s deflected shot-on-goal.

Just after the first half Rhode Island gave up their one-goal lead when La Salle’s Joe Farrell knocked in a cross from Tony Daniele. In the 82nd minute La Salle’s Sixtus Akinlosotu hit the near post almost avoiding overtime with the Rams.

Only 22 seconds into the first half of overtime redshirt senior captain Mike Casey struck home the golden goal. Sophomore Carlo Davids and Matthews possessed the ball, and found Casey in front of the net for the Rhode Island 2-1 overtime victory.

“Playing at a narrow field like La Salle is tough but our guys dug in to pull out another tough conference win,” Elliott said. “Mike Casey has experience especially against our conference with playing at their fields. His ability and competitive nature is well documented, he’s always trying to share his experience with the younger guys.”

The Rams will host Duquesne University on Saturday at 7 p.m. for Rhode Island’s last home match of the season. A pregame ceremony will be conducted prior to kick off at 6:45 p.m. to honor Rhode Island’s seniors.

“Saturday is senior day for us and it’s another conference matchup so I expect to see a lot of heart and passion out there from our guys,” Elliott said. “It’s our seniors last time to play on our pitch in front of our fans. Winning this match will also help us clinch a spot in the Atlantic 10 Tournament.”