The University of Rhode Island men’s soccer team (4-8-1, 1-2 A-10) fell to two conference opponents when they visited Saint Joseph’s University last Wednesday, losing 3-1, and hosted La Salle University on Saturday, falling 2-1.
Rhode Island started off strong last Saturday during their visit to Philadelphia when junior midfielder Carlo Davids scored his first goal of the season in the 18th minute. Davids took a shot from the edge of the box, finishing it in the bottom left corner following a pass from fellow junior Dante Lamb.
Rhode Island ended the first half leading 1-0, but the second half was be a different story. St. Joes scored soon after the whistle blew in the second half when Matt Crawford scored an unassisted goal just over two minutes into the half to even the score 1-1. Crawford later followed up his first goal of the game with an assist to teammate Derek MacKinnon in the 54th minute to give their side the 2-1 lead. Crawford put the game out of reach for URI when he scored his second goal of the match in the 72nd minute, bringing the score to a final tally of 3-1. This was the first time this season Rhode Island has lost a game by multiple goals.
“The St. Joe’s game… we should have been two or three goals up at halftime and probably would have put the game to bed,” head coach Gareth Elliott said. “Unfortunately they scored a great goal in the second half, and then we gave away a few easy opportunities to them, allowing their team to score on two set pieces.”
The second game of the week was another nail biter for Rhode Island as La Salle came into the Rhode Island Soccer Complex. The team found themselves in an early 1-0 deficit when La Salle’s Zach Rutherford launched a long throw into the Rams box where teammate Greg Henry flicked the ball to Johnny Ciarlante for the headed finish in the 6th minute. The score remained at 1-0 after the first half, as the Rams were unable to connect on their opportunities.
The Explorers added to their lead in the 59th minute when Tony Daniele lined up to score a 30-yard set piece past Rhode Island goalkeeper Nils Leifhelm to extend the lead to 2-0. Rhode Island put themselves on the board in the 75th minute when freshman attacker Stavros Zarokostas headed in a corner from sophomore attacker Dominik Richter. For Zarokostas, this was his team-leading fourth goal of the season for what has been a productive freshman year campaign thus far. The Rams were unable to strike before the final whistle sounded, finishing the game with a 2-1 defeat, their seventh one-goal loss of the season.
“The greatest challenge for us has been scoring goals and remaining defensively solid,” Elliott said. “Every match this year besides our game against New Hampshire I believe we have deserved either a tie or win.”
Rhode Island will return to action when they visit Saint Louis University Wednesday night for an 8 p.m. kickoff.
“St. Louis is another quality opponent who has done well in conference play so far,” Elliott said. “We go down to their field and we know it will be a challenge, but again it is really the same thing as any game. Defensively we have to remain solid and not give up a lot, and offensively when chances come we have to put the ball in the back of the net.”