By JOSHUA NATOLI
Sports Editor
The College of Saint Rose Men’s Soccer team suffered another heartbreaking setback this past Saturday. This time the killing blow came from the Merrimack Warriors in the 72nd minute of a Northeat-10 Conference matchup at Sullivan Field at the Plumeri Sports Complex. One goal was all it took to propel the Warriors over the Golden Knights 1-0.
The date marked the fourth time this season that the Golden Knights (3-6/1-5 NE-10) had lost by just one goal. The gears were turning for Saint Rose but they just could not get anything going against Merrimack, (7-2/5-1 NE-10) whom generated a shot advantage of 16-9 along with a four to four split in shots-on-goal on their way to a seventh win in eight contests.
Warriors’ freshman midfielder Joseph Briers headed in his second goal of the season, which turned out to be the game-winning strike after Merrimack put the ball in play during one of their 18 resets. The goal came after sophomore back Ronald Reid drove the ball from the right flank which deflected off of sophomore midfielder Augusto Silva’s head then found its way onto Briers’ for the finish. Reid was credited with the assist.
Keepers on both ends of the field got in their share of work as well. Freshman keeper Christian Esposito of the Golden Knights controlled his side of the pitch with three saves. On Merrimack’s end, junior keeper Jose Silva held onto four saves which shut out Saint Rose.
Missed opportunities were the story of the game for the Golden Knights. Saint Rose came across a few chances to put points on the board but ultimately came up short. Sophomore midfielder Nick Iuorno just missed a shot that had a bit too much mustard on it which sailed right around the far post fifteen minutes into the contest. Scrambling to come up with points after Merrimack’s lone goal, sophomore Tyler Pomakoy tried to head home a shot which was blocked but found its way to senior forward Juan Garzon who also tried to connect on a headerl but was sent over the crossbar by Silva who just did not let up between the posts on his way to his third shutout of the year.
Next up on the docket, both teams head on the road for 7:00 p.m. road contests Wednesday. The Golden Knights will engage in some non-conference play against the Roberts Wesleyan Redhawks in Rochester, New York while Merrimack heads to Manchester, New Hampshire to face the Penman of Southern New Hampshire University.
