Loyola Maryland M-Soc Down American, 4-1, Eye #1 Seed In Patriot League Tourney
BALTIMORE, Md. – When the Loyola Maryland Greyhounds men’s soc
cer team took to field Wednesday night at Ridley Athletic Complex for it’s match against conference rival, American University Eagles, a guarantee top four seed in the upcoming 2017 Patriot League Men’s Soccer Team was on the line.
Using two goals by Greyhounds Sophomore F Brian Saramego and additional goals from Sophomore F Josh Fawole and Freshman F Sam Brown, Loyola Maryland (10-4-1; 6-1-0 Patriot League) easily defeated American University Eagles (3-11-1; 2-5-0 Patriot League), 4-1 and guaranteed themselves a top four spot in the Patriot League Tournament that gets underway in less than two weeks. It was also the first time since 2012 that the Greyhounds have won 10 games in the regular season.
Eagles Freshman F Andreas Djurhuus scored his first career goal in the loss.
Loyola Maryland started out running from the opening touch. Just 37 seconds into the match, Fawole had the first scoring chance but his header would go wide right. American would settle down after the missed header and eventually worked the ball into a scoring chance of their own in the sixth minute (5:21 mark) but Freshman F Brenner Jarrad’s shot would also go wide right.
Just a few minutes later in the 10th minute (9:25 mark), Fawole would have a beautiful pass to Sophomore F Brian Saramego and he would score the first of two goals of the game to give Loyola Maryland a 1-0 lead. It was Saramego’s fifth goal of the season.
American would go back on the offensive less than two minutes later and had a golden opportunity for a goal but Freshman F Nicholas Dimitrijevic’s laser shot was blocked by Greyhounds Junior D A Mickey Watson. The Eagles would keep up the pressure and in the 20th minute, a Greyhound foul would give the Eagles a free kick.
They made the most of it as Watson blocked the initial attempt but his block would meet Djurhuus’ head and the ball would bounce past Greyhound Freshman GK Chris Vosvick and into the net, tying the game at 1-1 (19:39 mark).
During the 26th minute, Vosvick would use his leg to rifle a goal kick nearly three-fourths the length of the field to Fawole. Fawole would then do an awesome 180-degree turn on his defender and kick the ball into the left side of the net at the 25:07 mark to give Loyola a 2-1 lead. With the assist, Vosvick would score his first career point.
Loyola Maryland would out-shoot American 11-7 in the first half, though both teams had five shots on goal as the Greyhounds took the 2-1 lead at halftime.
Only six minutes into the second half and the Greyhounds would score their last two goals in a span of 64 seconds. At the 51:09 mark, Sophomore M Barry Sharifi would cleanly pass the ball to Saramego and he would score his second goal of the game, sixth overall for the season, and the Greyhounds were up 3-1. In the very next minute, at the 52:13 mark, Freshman F Sam Brown broke free and his shot sailed past Eagles Sophomore GK Josh Mino and into the net for the final goal of the night, giving Loyola Maryland the 4-1 advantage.
The only blemish on an otherwise outstanding game by the Greyhounds were the 24 fouls they committed that would give the Eagles plenty of free kicks and opportunities to get back into the game. The game was also marred by a total of five yellow cards (three for Loyola – including one on Vosvick at the 56:34 mark).
With the victory, the Greyhounds are tied with the Boston University Terriers (7-7-2; 6-1-0 Patriot League) for first place in the Patriot League standings, though Loyola Maryland holds the tie-breaker, as they defeated Boston 2-1 back on October 14th in Boston. Should the Greyhounds win just one of their last two regular season conference games and earn another three points for a victory, they would guarantee that if they make the semi-finals and the finals of the tournament, those games would be played in Baltimore at the Ridley Athletic Complex.
The Greyhounds travel to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania to take on the Lehigh Mountain Hawks (10-5-1; 4-2-1) Saturday evening at 6:00 pm.
