The men's soccer team dropped a pair of close home games to University Athletic Association (UAA) teams over the weekend, losing to Brandeis University (Mass.) 1-0 on Friday evening before falling 1-0 to New York University on Saturday. The Eagles fell to 8-6-2 on the season, with a 2-3-1 mark in UAA play.
The Eagles played well in the first half against Brandeis, limiting the Judges, who have ranked as high as seventh in the nation among Division III teams, to just four shots in a scoreless first half. Emory had two chances in the first half, but couldn’t get either shot into the net — junior midfielder Jason Andrejchak missed high in the 37th minute, and his effort about one minute later was saved by the Brandeis goalkeeper.
Both teams were a bit more explosive in the second half. Brandeis peppered the Eagles’ goal with four shots in the opening 13 minutes, but senior goalkeeper Abe Hannigan held his own with a pair of saves until the Judges’ Patrick Flahive headed in a cross from junior midfielder Josh Ocel to put Brandeis on top.
That was all Brandeis needed, but the Eagles didn’t go down quietly. A shot from junior midfielder Scott Haley in the 60th minute ricocheted off the crossbar, the first of the Eagles’ six second-half shots. Emory had a few chances in the final minutes to even the game and earn a hard-fought home point, but couldn’t find the back of the net before time expired.
Despite the loss, it was a relatively impressive performance against one of the best teams in the nation. Eagles Head Coach Sonny Travis was satisfied with his team’s effort.
“I thought we played very well Friday night,” he said. “It was a good game, a close game.”
The second game was a bit more disappointing, as the Eagles were tripped up at home by an NYU squad that was previously winless in conference play. The difference-maker came early, with the Violets’ freshman midfielder Ricardo Mitrano heading in a cross from junior midfielder Tristan Medios-Simon in the sixth minute to score the game’s only goal.
Emory had plenty of chances, but couldn’t convert. After being outshot 9-4 by NYU in the first half, the Eagles tightened up defensively and allowed only two NYU shots. Still, none could find the net — the Eagles tallied only two shots on goal, courtesy of a Haley shot in the first minute of play, that was turned away by the NYU goalkeeper, and another late in the second half from senior defenseman Leo Ragazzo.
Travis wasn’t thrilled with the Eagles’ energy level against NYU, but credited the Violets’ goalkeeper for keeping Emory off the board.
“As a coach, you’re always worried about the emotions coming out after a game like [the Brandeis game],” Travis said. “We should have been able to get up against NYU. We came out flat.”
The Eagles are out of contention for a regular season UAA title, but they can still even their conference record with a win against University of Rochester (N.Y.) on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.
“We’ve got a lot of young players and a lot of seniors,” Travis said. “We’d like to go out strong.”
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