Friday, August 27
Bronx, N.Y.
7 p.m.
Lehigh University
0-1-0, 0-0-0
0
at
1
Manhattan
1-0-0, 0-0-0
1
2
F
Lehigh
0
0
0
Manhattan
1
0
1
Photo by: Josh Liddick
Early own goal costs Lehigh season-opening win at Manhattan
8/27/2021 9:34:00 PM | Men's Soccer
BRONX, N.Y. – It wasn't the season opener that it hoped for, as the Lehigh men's soccer team fell to Manhattan, 1-0 Friday night at Gaelic Park.
An own goal in the 17th minute cost the Mountain Hawks (0-1) the victory as a defender was knocked in trying to play the ball back to the goalkeeper. Despite a valiant effort by the Lehigh defense and Noah Sutherland in net, the Jaspers (1-0) defense prevailed, holding on for the one-goal win.
The story of the night was Manhattan's aggressive defense that led the way in fouls, 21-6. The approach halted any kind of momentum from the Lehigh side, not able to get much of anything going for the final 75 minutes of action or so.
"I thought we did pretty well for probably the first 15 or so minutes," said The Ingrassia Family Head Men's Soccer Coach Dean Koski. "Then I thought their fouling disrupted us for the rest of the game. We couldn't get anything going with their 21 fouls. It's really hard to build any kind of rhythm or momentum and our players certainly got a little frustrated because every time we wanted to do something we got fouled.
"They were strategic in doing that. I know that's not the way they [Manhattan] they want to play and their head coach was apologetic afterwards, but it's tough to go on the road and play to begin with. We didn't manage it well. We had chances early on we didn't make good on and that caught up to us."
Manhattan led the way in shots, 10-9, while shots on goal were tied at three apiece.
Two of Lehigh's best chances in the match came in the first 14 minutes when Josh Luchini fed a ball to Patrick Adams inside the box, who missed just out top in the eighth minute. Luchini had a shot saved by the Jasper keeper in the 14th minute, unable to tie the game up at 1-1.
The Mountain Hawks' next two best chances came in the 62nd and 64th minutes when Bratislav Petkovic missed bottom center and Austen Carranza had his shot saved in the same spot.
Noah Sutherland made three saves total, including a key one in the 82nd minute, keeping the score at 1-0.
"Noah did great in there," Koski said. "He's experienced, he makes saves that he needed to make. I think that he's eager to come out and find ways for us to win. We certainly need that from him, he's going to be really good for us throughout the year."
Luchini and Petkovic led the way with two shots each, while five others each tallied one.
Lehigh heads back home to the Ulrich Sports Complex on Sunday, taking on Vermont at noon in the home opener. That match will be streamed live on ESPN+.
"We haven't spent a lot of time scouting Vermont yet, but we'll review everything with the team tomorrow," said Koski. "We still have to worry about ourselves and try to get better at the things we need to get better at. Vermont is going to be good, but at this stage of the year we have to be focused on Lehigh and what we need to do.
"Moreover, we're excited to get our first home game in. I'm sure guys are looking forward to having a home match on Ulrich. We're ready to get some more matches under our belt. We need to get healthy, we got a little banged up today some injuries. So once we get healthy, we'll be moving forward."
Like Lehigh Men's Soccer on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.
An own goal in the 17th minute cost the Mountain Hawks (0-1) the victory as a defender was knocked in trying to play the ball back to the goalkeeper. Despite a valiant effort by the Lehigh defense and Noah Sutherland in net, the Jaspers (1-0) defense prevailed, holding on for the one-goal win.
The story of the night was Manhattan's aggressive defense that led the way in fouls, 21-6. The approach halted any kind of momentum from the Lehigh side, not able to get much of anything going for the final 75 minutes of action or so.
"I thought we did pretty well for probably the first 15 or so minutes," said The Ingrassia Family Head Men's Soccer Coach Dean Koski. "Then I thought their fouling disrupted us for the rest of the game. We couldn't get anything going with their 21 fouls. It's really hard to build any kind of rhythm or momentum and our players certainly got a little frustrated because every time we wanted to do something we got fouled.
"They were strategic in doing that. I know that's not the way they [Manhattan] they want to play and their head coach was apologetic afterwards, but it's tough to go on the road and play to begin with. We didn't manage it well. We had chances early on we didn't make good on and that caught up to us."
Manhattan led the way in shots, 10-9, while shots on goal were tied at three apiece.
Two of Lehigh's best chances in the match came in the first 14 minutes when Josh Luchini fed a ball to Patrick Adams inside the box, who missed just out top in the eighth minute. Luchini had a shot saved by the Jasper keeper in the 14th minute, unable to tie the game up at 1-1.
The Mountain Hawks' next two best chances came in the 62nd and 64th minutes when Bratislav Petkovic missed bottom center and Austen Carranza had his shot saved in the same spot.
Noah Sutherland made three saves total, including a key one in the 82nd minute, keeping the score at 1-0.
"Noah did great in there," Koski said. "He's experienced, he makes saves that he needed to make. I think that he's eager to come out and find ways for us to win. We certainly need that from him, he's going to be really good for us throughout the year."
Luchini and Petkovic led the way with two shots each, while five others each tallied one.
Lehigh heads back home to the Ulrich Sports Complex on Sunday, taking on Vermont at noon in the home opener. That match will be streamed live on ESPN+.
"We haven't spent a lot of time scouting Vermont yet, but we'll review everything with the team tomorrow," said Koski. "We still have to worry about ourselves and try to get better at the things we need to get better at. Vermont is going to be good, but at this stage of the year we have to be focused on Lehigh and what we need to do.
"Moreover, we're excited to get our first home game in. I'm sure guys are looking forward to having a home match on Ulrich. We're ready to get some more matches under our belt. We need to get healthy, we got a little banged up today some injuries. So once we get healthy, we'll be moving forward."
Like Lehigh Men's Soccer on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.
Team Stats
LEH
MAN
Goals
0
1
Shots
9
10
Shots on Goal
3
3
Saves
3
3
Corners
3
2
Fouls
6
21
Scoring Plays
0
defender knocked in while trying to play back to keeper
16:31
Game Leaders
Shots
2
SOG
1
Goals
0
Assists
0
Shots
2
SOG
1
Goals
0
Assists
0
Shots
1
SOG
0
Goals
0
Assists
0
Shots
1
SOG
0
Goals
0
Assists
0
Players Mentioned
M
/ Men's Soccer
M/F
/ Men's SoccerF
/ Men's SoccerF
/ Men's Soccer
GK
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