LORETTO, Pa. (Oct. 22, 2010) – After surrendering two goals in the first nine minutes of the second half, the Saint Francis men's soccer team bounced back to earn a critical 3-2 Northeast Conference victory against visiting Long Island on Friday afternoon at the Stokes Soccer Complex.
Senior
Patrick Fleming (Dunedin, New Zealand/Bayfield) (Dunedin, New Zealand / Bayfield) scored his team-leading eighth goal of the season at 80 minutes, 45 seconds for his first game-winner of the season.
Saint Francis improved to 8-4-1 overall, and 4-1-1 in the Northeast Conference with the win. The Red Flash will play another important league game at 1 p.m. on Sunday when St. Francis-NY makes the trip to Loretto.
Juniors
Kingsley McLeod (Rocky Mount, N.C./Rocky Mount) (Rocky Mount, N.C. / Rocky Mount) and
David Butler (Baltimore, Md./Loyola Blakefield) (Baltimore, Md. / Loyola Blakefield) also picked up goals in the win. Senior
Owen Gombami (Pumula North Bulawayo, Simbabwe/Mzilikazi) (Pumula North Bulawayo, Zimbabwe / Mzilikazi) contribute two assists, while freshman
Nick Kolarac (Pittsburgh, Pa./West Allegheny) (Pittsburgh, Pa. / West Allegheny) also had a helper.
Sophomore goalkeeper
Daniel Valcicak (Herndon, Va./Gonzaga College) (Herndon, Va. / Gonzaga College) stopped four shots for his seventh win of the year for SFU.
Jakeem Johnson and Dan Sauerhoff scored for the Blackbirds, who dropped to 5-8-1 overall, and 2-3-1 in the Northeast Conference.
“We were very resilient today,” said Saint Francis head coach
Michael Casper. “We were tremendous in the first half and, to LIU's credit, they got back into the game. We handled that setback well and found a way to get the winner. It is a great win, but now we need to get ready for Sunday.”
Saint Francis got off to a fast start against Long Island with McLeod netting his fourth goal of the season at 9:46 in the first half. Kolarac passed back to Gombami who found a streaking McLeod in the box. McLeod lifted a floater over the head of Blackbirds' goalkeeper Adam Janssen to make it 1-0.
Gombami would later find Butler in the box for another shot that went from right to left over the head of Janssen to make it 2-0. Butler's second goal of the season came at 33:03.
The Red Flash took a seemingly commanding 2-0 lead into halftime with a 5-3 edge in shots.
However, Long Island came out with a purpose in the final stanza, scoring just over two minutes into the second half. Steve Jakubowski hit Jakeem Johnson for a shot that hit the upper 90 from 10 yards out. Johnson's fifth goal of the year came at 47:09 to cut the Red Flash lead in half.
The Blackbirds then stole all of the momentum with a goal by Dan Sauerhoff at 53:46 to tie the match at 2-2. Rob Schroback started the play with a pass out to the right side near the goal line to Jakubowski, who fed a cross into the box. Red Flash goalkeeper Valcicak came out to punch the ball, but his punch went right to Sauerhoff, who headed his second goal of the season for a 2-2 tie.
As has been the case all year, Saint Francis didn't back down under the pressure. SFU kept coming at LIU, and would get the game-winner after a cross was knocked out by Janssen.
Janssen's punch of the ball came out to a wide open Fleming, who slammed the ball into the lower left corner to give the Red Flash a thrilling 3-2 win.
Saint Francis outshot the Blackbirds 15-9 in the contest. Long Island had a 6-3 edge in corner kicks, and were whistled for 10 fouls against SFU's five.
Janssen made four saves for the Blackbirds.
For periodic men's soccer updates and other Red Flash news, follow Director of Athletic Communications Bob Volkert on Twitter at SFUVolkert.
Game Notes: Saint Francis moved into a tie for first place in the Northeast Conference with its win combined with a Sacred Heart 2-0 loss at Quinnipiac; Senior Owen Gombami (Pumula North Bulawayo, Simbabwe/Mzilikazi) picked up his fourth and fifth assists of the season, giving him a career high 9 points (2 g, 5 a); Junior Kingsley McLeod (Rocky Mount, N.C./Rocky Mount) recorded his 10th point of the season with his fourth goal, doubling the point total he entered the 2010 season (10) with; Senior Patrick Fleming (Dunedin, New Zealand/Bayfield) recorded his Northeast Conference leading 24th point of the season, which moved him into a tie for fifth on SFU's single-season points list (tied with Bernie Showers' 24 points in 2004); The Red Flash improved to 12-9-2 all-time versus Long Island; SFU reached eight wins for the sixth time in program history, and is two wins shy of the school record (10 wins in 2004 and 2006).
