Men’s soccer is out of the running for A-10 championships

The St. Joe’s men’s soccer team took on conference opponent George Washington University on Oct. 28, with the game ending in a score of 3-1 in George Washington’s favor.

The Hawks consistently fought for possession, but it was the Colonials who came out stronger during the game, resulting in the Hawks being out of the running for the Atlantic 10 championships.

“I think the score didn’t indicate the competitiveness of the match,” head coach Don D’Ambra said. “We were in the position where we could have won that match but we kind of let it slip away.”

St. Joe’s started off the game slowly compared to George Washington, but freshmen David Grana, Ritchie Barry and Daniel Morales helped to get the ball where it needed to go, preventing the Colonials from keeping too much possession.

During the first half, the Hawks were given a penalty, leading to a George Washington attempt on goal. Hawks’ senior goalkeeper Greg O’Connell blocked the shot, but the ball remained in play until the defense successfully came in to swipe the ball away from the opposition.

“Well they [St. Joe’s] knew this was a must win, so they came in,” D’Ambra said. “I just said you got to set the tone and the environment, and they did. They went out, embraced the moment and the importance of the game, but there was a lack of execution and a couple of silly goals.”

George Washington was able to score  in the 19th minute off of a corner kick, giving them the 1-0 lead. St. Joe’s would later tie up the game, with freshman Alvin Dahn directing the ball toward the net, only to have a Colonial defender slide in and put the ball in his own goal, bringing the score to 1-1.

“I saw that the goalie was going to the other side, so I placed the ball towards the center,” Dahn said. “I thought it was in, but fortunately it made it in anyways.”

During the second half of the game, George Washington put two more goals in the back of the net. One goal occurred in the 71st minute when the Colonials were able to rebound their own shot. The other came in the 86th minute to put George Washington comfortably ahead of St. Joe’s with only four minutes left to play.

During the second half, play was noticeably more aggressive for both teams.  During this half, the Hawks were awarded free kicks, but no one could finish their shot, ending the game with a final score of 3-1 and a Hawk loss.

Throughout the game, there were three corner kicks given to each team, and in total, O’Connell made four saves while the Colonials’ goalkeeper made five. Both teams each had 15 fouls throughout the game, and three St. Joe’s players were issued yellow cards.

“There was a lot of little fouls that could have changed the momentum of the game, but I don’t think the referees were the outcome of the game,” D’Ambra said.

The game marked the last game on Sweeney Field for the Hawks this season, and the last ever for the seniors. Their performance was impressive, but it was not enough to pull out a win against George Washington.

Despite this, D’Ambra was especially impressed with performances by senior Ben Zambetti, junior Eddie McCusker and Morales in the backline, freshman Aidan Watkins in the middle and senior Isaac Agyapong on offense.

St. Joe’s men’s soccer will play Saint Louis University on Nov. 1, which will bring their season to a close. The loss to George Washington confirmed that the team will not make an appearance in the conference playoffs.

“We are still going to go for a win,” Dahn said of the team’s upcoming and final match. “We have a couple of seniors, so we wanted them to end on a good note.”