The University of Rhode Island men’s soccer team were eliminated from the Atlantic 10 Championship before falling to Davidson College 2-1 on Saturday at the URI soccer complex.
In the first half, Davidson kept Rhode Island in its defensive third, as the Wildcats had 11 shots with four of them on goal. Fourth-year forward Denis Krioutchenkov led the all players with four shots heading into halftime. The Rams only had three shots on goal as both teams went into the halftime break scoreless.
The game took a turn in the second half as Davidson continued to keep applying pressure on the attack, finally breaking through and scoring the first goal in the 53rd minute. After URI third-year midfielder Keegan Walker was called for a foul, Davidson had a free kick on URI’s side of the field and fired the ball into several players on both teams inside the 18-yard box. Fourth-year midfielder Lyman Ott eventually gained possession and scored the first goal of the game, poking the ball into the back of the net from close range to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.
Rhode Island eventually equalized in the 70th minute, when fourth-year forward Isak Oystese made a pass across the box that went to fourth-year forward Brandon Bermingham, after the ball was almost intercepted by the Wildcats. Bermingham inched closer to the net and fired the ball over the head of second-year goalkeeper Lucas Beltran, tying the game at 1-1.
Towards the end of the game, Davidson broke the tie once again as fourth-year forward Vincent Bennage passed the ball from the right wing to second-year midfielder Noah Louzan in the final third. Louzan then kicked the game-winning goal for Davidson in the 86th minute.
“It’s a disappointing finish to a disappointing second half of the season,” Rhode Island Head Coach Gareth Elliot said. “You know, just not the way we envisioned it. But, you know, [soccer] doesn’t always go your way.”
The Wildcats finished the game with 25 shots, 11 of which were on goal. Just five of Rhode Island’s six shots were on goal.
“It was a tough game, obviously,” Bermingham said. “Back and forth, like hard challenges going in and stuff, but, I feel like we made a good account of ourselves and then hopefully the boys can use this for going into next season and just stay strong and keep it going.”
Despite the outcome of the game, Rhode Island was already eliminated from the playoffs based on other results. La Salle University secured the seventh seed and Saint Joseph’s University won their game to eliminate the Rams.
“[I’m] just happy for our seniors and proud of them [for] the work that they’ve done in their time here and obviously disappointed not to send them out with a win,” Elliot said.
Rhode Island finished the season with a 7-7-3 record, missing out on the final A-10 playoff berth. Davidson clinched the seventh seed in the A-10 Championship with the win, while finishing the regular season at 6-6-5.