LORETTO, Pa. (Oct. 17, 2008) – The Saint Francis men's soccer team had several terrific scoring chances, but couldn't find the net in a tough 1-0 Northeast Conference loss against visiting Long Island on Friday afternoon at the Stokes Soccer Complex.
The Blackbirds' Frank Judice scored his first goal of the season on a scramble in front of the net at 33 minutes, 47 seconds to give LIU the 1-0 edge. Goalkeeper Adam Janssen made the goal stand with six saves, plus a defensive save from Judice during a Red Flash flurry in the first half.
Saint Francis sophomore goalkeeper Darius Motazed (North Vancouver, Canada/Sentinel Secondary) (North Vancouver, Canada / Sentinel Secondary) had several outstanding saves and finished the contest with eight saves overall.
The Red Flash dropped to 3-8-1 overall, and 0-3 in the Northeast Conference with the loss. They will try to bounce back with a 1 p.m. contest against St. Francis-NY on Sunday, at the Stokes Soccer Complex. The Blackbirds improved to 7-5 overall, and 2-1 in the NEC.
SFU came out with a major offensive attack in the first 20 minutes of the game. Sophomore Owen Gombami (Pumula North Bulawayo, Simbabwe/Mzilikazi) (Pumula North Bulawayo, Zimbabwe / Mzilikazi) hit the crossbar on a partial breakaway from 15 yards out just over two minutes into the contest.
Freshman David Butler (Baltimore, Md./Loyola Blakefield) (Baltimore, Md. / Loyola Blakefield) registered six shots in the game, including four that were saved. His first shot of the game came 4:23 in and was blocked, but the rebound came out to sophomore Tyler Hibbs (St. Catherine, Canada/Governor Simcoe) (St. Catherine, Canada / Governor Simcoe), whose shot went just wide of the lower left side.
At the 15 minute mark, Butler had a series of chances. He took two shots that were saved and the rebounds came back out to his feet. His third shot attempt finally beat Janssen, but Judice was standing on the goal line to clear the ball out of harm's way.
Long Island's first good scoring chance came with 18:34 remaining in the first half. Mohammad Mashriqi targeted a hard shot for the left side of the net from 24 yards out. Motazed made a good diving save, but the rebound came back out to Jukka Lehto, who released a header from nine yards out. Motazed recovered in time to make another diving save to keep the game scoreless.
However, the Blackbirds hit pay dirt with 11:13 remaining on Judice's goal.
