PITTSBURGH, Pa. (Sept. 1, 2010) – The Saint Francis men's soccer team got the proverbial season-opening monkey off its back with two late goals on its way to a 2-0 victory over in-state rival Duquesne on Wednesday night at Arthur J. Rooney Athletic Field.
Senior co-captain
Patrick Fleming (Dunedin, New Zealand/Bayfield) (Dunedin, New Zealand / Bayfield) and freshman
Tobi Iguade (Bowie, Md./DeMatha Catholic) (Bowie, Md. / DeMatha Catholic) had a hand in both goals to help the Red Flash snap a 15-game losing streak in opening day games.
Iguade had a goal and assist, while Fleming assisted on both goals. Sophomore goalkeeper
Daniel Valcicak (Herndon, Va./Gonzaga College) (Herndon, Va. / Gonzaga College) stopped five shots for his first career shutout, and sophomore
Wayne Tiller (Magnolia, Del./Caesar Rodney) (Magnolia, Del. / Caesar Rodney) sealed the victory with a goal with 3 minutes, 33 seconds remaining.
SFU jumps to 1-0 with its first season-opening victory since defeating Long Island on Sept. 4, 1994. The Red Flash will return to action with an 11 a.m. game on Saturday vs. High Point. It will mark the first game of a tournament at James Madison University.
“I am very proud of our guys for their effort,” said Saint Francis head coach
Michael Casper. “It was a great win against a very good Duquesne side. This is a terrific shutout.
Daniel Valcicak (Herndon, Va./Gonzaga College) played great in net, and he should be proud of his performance. We had a couple of very good goals. We have struggled finishing, and it is nice to see some guys put the ball into the net. Hopefully this will give them some confidence moving forward.”
Duquesne applied pressure during the first 25 minutes of the second half, but it was the Red Flash who finally broke through.
Fleming started the play on the first goal when he won a ball about 50 yards out. He fed a nice touch pass that Iguade took about 20 yards past three defenders. He faked the last defender and had a clean look at the net from 20 yards out and put it past goalkeeper Chris Torres for the 1-0 lead with 16:20 remaining.
Valcicak and SFU's defense faced more pressure over the next eight minutes, but the Red Flash again came through to put the finishing touches on the program's first season opening win under Casper.
Fleming again started it with a throw-in to Iguade just inside the 18-yard box. Iguade one-touched a pass to Tiller, who took four steps and slammed it into the right side to give SFU a 2-0 lead with 3:33 remaining.
“I think our guys faced a good deal of adversity during the first 20 to 25 minutes of the second half,” Casper said. “They handled it very well, and then came through with a couple big goals. This is a nice start to our season, but we have a lot of work to accomplish between now and our games versus High Point and James Madison this weekend.”
Duquesne held a 14-8 advantage in shots for the game, and a 10-2 edge in corner kicks. Valcicak stopped all five shots between the pipes, while Dukes' keeper Torres had three saves. Duquesne had 14 fouls, and the Red Flash had nine.
The teams went into halftime deadlocked at zero, and Duquesne came out with an offensive mindset.
Valcicak made an acrobatic save just over five minutes into the second half. Sean Gardner took a shot from 25 yards out that was deflected up and over Valcicak's head. He managed to get a piece of it and deflect it onto the crossbar and over the goal.
Duquesne had another opportunity with 33:42 to go when Dave Cassanelli headed a long cross wide left, keeping the game knotted at 0-0.
After a Duquesne corner kick found the ball bouncing around inside the 18-yard box, Joshua Patterson got a good look at the goal, but his shot was deflected wide left to keep the game scoreless with 31:27 to go. The Dukes would get two more corner kicks during the series, but SFU held its ground.
SFU had the first chance of the game when Tiller started a give-and-go with junior Taylor Powers (Petaluma, Calif./Casa Grande) (Petaluma, Calif. / Casa Grande) just under four minutes in. Junior Kingsley McLeod (Rocky Mount, N.C./Rocky Mount) (Rocky Mount, N.C. / Rocky Mount) nearly put one in the back of the net just over two minutes later, but his shot hit the post.
With 12:20 to go in the first half, Duquesne had its first good opportunity of the game when freshman Simon Gomez got behind the Red Flash defense. However, his shot went well wide of the right post.
With 2:05 to go in the first half, a long outlet pass got over Saint Francis' defense as Duquesne junior Tyler Tompkins sprinted towards the Red Flash goal. Two red jerseys marked him, but he got a clean shot off that went just wide right.
One minute later, junior David Butler (Baltimore, Md./Loyola Blakefield) (Baltimore, Md. / Loyola Blakefield) was fouled attempting a shot, and Saint Francis was awarded a free kick. However, Fleming's shot from 26 yards out was safely put away by goalkeeper Chris Torres.
The teams went into halftime with a scoreless tie. Duquesne held a 4-2 advantage in shots, and SFU had a 2-1 edge in corner kicks. The Dukes were whistled eight times on fouls, while SFU committed four. Both teams were offside on one occasion in the first 45 minutes.
For periodic men's soccer updates and other Red Flash news, follow Director of Athletic Communications Bob Volkert on Twitter at SFUVolkert.
