BOX SCORE Loretto, Pa. - The 2017 Saint Francis men's soccer team (10-8, 3-4 NEC) displayed one of the top scoring offenses in program history so it was only fitting that it found the net four times in its final game of the season to defeat Robert Morris 4-1.
Moore's Reaction
"It's a very special class that will go on to do bigger and better things with their lives," said head coach
Antony Moore. "We learned a lot of valuable lessons from this season. It's not the way we wanted to end things but that's the way things go sometimes."
Turning Point
The Red Flash went down 1-0 seven minutes into the match but responded to score the match's final four goals. Junior
Mario Mastrangelo (Venetia, Pa/Peters Township) scored his league-leading 13th goal of the season to level the game at 1-1 in the 25th minute then brother Nicco put SFU in front for good with his first goal of the season in the 41st minute.
Highlights
- The Colonials got on the board courtesy of Bayley Winkel's 10th goal of the season in the seventh minute. Roald Aus Ravlum created the opportunity, taking the ball off an SFU defender and chipping onto Winkel's path for a tap-in finish.
- Mario Mastrangelo (Venetia, Pa/Peters Township)'s goal got Saint Francis back on track. Senior Andres Vega played the ball wide for freshman Christian Kirchhoff (Aarhaus, Denmark) who found senior Troye Kiernan (Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper St. Clair) alone in the box. Kiernan's shot attempt fell to sophomore Lucas Canineu (Corbin, Ky/Corbin). The midfielder struck his shot well forcing a rebound for Mastrangelo and an easy finish.
- Junior Nicco Mastrangelo's header gave Saint Francis a 2-1 lead. Freshman Lucas Rosa (Atibaia Brazil/COC Atibaia) delivered the corner kick and it found Nicco Mastrangelo alone six yards out as he powered one past the Colonials' keeper.
- Saint Francis increased its offensive pressure in the second half, totaling 20 shots. Junior Tulio Canineu (Corbin, Ky/Corbin) was in the center of the action with three quality scoring chances but two were saved and his free kick skimmed just over the crossbar.
- The Red Flash finally broke through in the 85th minute on a Rosa tally. Kiernan dribbled horizontally across the box before teeing up Rosa who found the net from 10 yards out for his fourth goal of the season.
- Senior Kaelon Fox (Louisville, KY/St. Xavier (Kentucky)) put the finishing touches on the match in the 88th minute, following up his saved penalty shot and burying into the vacant goal.
Notes
- Saint Francis dominated the match, recording a season-high 33 shots to just four for Robert Morris.
- Shots on goal were 13-3.
- The Red Flash also earned 12 corner kicks to 0 for Robert Morris.
- Kiernan paced Saint Francis with nine total shots.
- The Red Flash reach the 10-win mark for the fifth straight season.
- Seniors Marcus Rojas (Fremont, Calif./Bellarmine College Preparatory), Jonathon Otting (Louisville, Ky/St. Xavier (Xavier (OH) University)), Kaelon Fox, Andres Vega (Managua, Nicaragua/Colegio Centro America), Troye Kiernan and Nick Hanuscin (Cinnaminson, N.J./Bishop Eustace) played in their final match in a Saint Francis uniform. The group will graduate as the winningest class in program history with 46 wins over the last four seasons. Rojas, Vega and Hanuscin, all fifth-year players, were a part of 57 wins over five seasons.
- The Red Flash missed out on the playoffs by one point as FDU clinched the final spot with a 3-0 win at Sacred Heart. SFU finishes in fifth place, one point behind FDU and Robert Morris. It is its first time missing the playoffs since 2011.
- Saint Francis finishes the season with 38 goals, its most in over two decades. Entering Friday, the 38 goal total would rank tied-for-sixth in the entire NCAA.
