Men’s soccer battles to enter A-10 tournament

After redshirt senior Luc Fatton kicked the ball right past a diving senior goalkeeper Greg O’Connell to put Virginia Commonwealth University up 1-0 against the Saint Joseph’s University men’s soccer team, the course of the game changed.

“They’re a team that likes to possess,” senior Matt Crawford said. “After they went up 1-0, it kind of put us in a spot we didn’t really want to be in.”

The Hawks entered the game against VCU, who was 4-1-0 in Atlantic 10 play, in 10th place in the conference standings, making this a crucial game in regards to playoff hopes. The game resulted, however, in the Hawks’ third straight loss, moving them to 1-4-1 in conference games.

VCU struggled early in the game to get the ball consistently into their offensive half, but when they managed to do so, it typically resulted in strong scoring opportunities for the Rams.

The Hawks had a couple of near goals in the 15th and 18th minutes of the first half, but the game remained scoreless at the break.

“I think the first half went pretty well,” Crawford said. “They’re a pretty good team, so I think we defended pretty hard and worked harder than we did in other games throughout the season.”

The Rams opened the scoring with Fatton’s goal in the fourth minute of the second half.

“I think to give up a goal that early in the first half kind of took a lot of pressure off them,” Crawford said. “The longer the game had gone 0-0, I think that would’ve benefitted us.”

With less than 12 minutes remaining, the Rams scored back-to-back goals to extend their lead to 3-0, where the score would stand until the final buzzer.

“We had a couple close opportunities, but as soon as they scored the second goal, it kind of took the wind out of our sails,” Head Coach Don D’Ambra said. “We played with a lot of energy. We played them really tight. It was a close game up until that second goal. I think that was kind of it.”

The Hawks only managed to put two shots on goal – one by freshman Alvin Dahn and another by senior Isaac Agyapong.

“We had one really good chance in the first half off a corner and then one really good chance in the second half and a lot of times,” Crawford said. “If you’re getting one good chance you’ve got to put it away because against a good team like VCU, I don’t know how many chances you’re going to get.”

According to Crawford, the issue on offense stemmed from an inability to capitalize on possessions or get the ball to the middle of the field.

“I think we had some chances,” Crawford said. “The space was probably out wide more so than down the middle and I think when we got the ball out wide, we couldn’t really seem to get in a good cross. The couple times we did, they just didn’t go our way.”

With just two conference games remaining and an 11th place 1-4-1 conference record, the Hawks are currently on the outside looking in at the A-10 tournament.

“We’re much better than what our record shows,” D’Ambra said.

St. Joe’s will return to action at home against George Washington University at 7 p.m. on Oct. 28.