Seeking to record their first home win, the Elizabethtown College men’s soccer team recorded a 3-0 victory in their non-conference game against Wilkes University on Wednesday, Sept. 17 at Ira R. Herr Field. The team also recorded their first shutout of the season.
Junior captain Martin Fevre opened the scoring for the night after the team had an early corner kick in the third minute of play. Senior captain Kyle Fowler’s low cross to the near goal post was flicked into the six-yard box by junior Shane Votto, where Fevre was able to strike it into the net. This was Fevre’s first registered goal of the season.
Etown’s second goal came in the 21st minute when senior forward Andrew Sandridge traveled with the ball down the sideline, where he sent a driven cross into the box for senior captain David Boretti to score his first goal of the season.
“We scored two early goals, which helped a lot going through the rest of the game,” said Fevre. “We had a lot of composure and kept the ball throughout the entire game.”
The Blue Jays ultimately decided the outcome when Sandridge stole the ball from an opposing defender and placed his shot into the opposite corner of the goal. Sandridge opened his scoring for the season, as well, and is looking forward to improving as the year continues.
“It was a good feeling to get my first goal of the season,” Sandridge said. “Since I was the leading goal scorer last year, it was nice to finally break the ice this year. Overall, the game was a big step forward for the whole team.”
The Blue Jays controlled the majority of the possession during the game and held a strong defensive. Senior goalkeeper Justin Signora made two saves throughout his 71 minutes of play. Sophomore Ryan Sandell eventually replaced Signora and didn’t receive a shot on goal from the Colonels during his season debut.
“This win was really important to us because it is right before a conference game this weekend. We gained a lot of confidence tonight which will help us going into the conference game,” said Sandridge. “We need to create more opportunities and get more shots on goal. We just need to fine-tune some things, but overall, we had a really good game tonight.”
Despite their promising win against the Colonels, the Blue Jays suffered a 3-1 defeat to Catholic University in their first Landmark Conference game of the season on Saturday, Sept. 20 in Washington, D.C.
After the monotonous first half, Catholic opened the scoring in the 59th minute when Ben Sykes put in a cross by Tyler Zimmerman. The Blue Jays quickly responded when they earned a penalty kick ,which Fowler converted into a Blue Jay goal.
However, Catholic didn’t stop as they scored two consecutive goals within four minutes to reclaim the lead. In the 65th minute, Catholic midfielder Nico Batolomeo finished a pass he received from midfielder Matt Holtsschneider. Catholic received a direct kick in the 69th minute. Batolomeo passed to Jack Traxler who beat Blue Jay keeper Signora to score the goal.
Fowler desperately tried to bring Etown back within reach in the 77th minute, but Catholic defender Josh Barrett saved the attempt off the line. Making shots on target and converting opportunities continues to cause the Blue Jays problems as they only had one shot on goal, which came from Sandridge.
The Blue Jays ended the weekend with a record of 2-3-1 and 0-1 in the Landmark Conference. They look to improve their record in the third annual Kicks for Cancer game against Alvernia.
