Game 8: Eastern v. Albright

September 27, 2014

Eagles Upended By Lions

Eastern defender Jair Saenz battles Albright's Austin Phillips for possession of the ball.

ST. DAVIDS, Pa.—Eastern University Men’s Soccer stumbled against the Albright College Lions on Saturday afternoon, losing 2-1.

The Eagles were dealt just their second loss of the season (6-2) while the Lions moved above .500 (5-4-1). Eastern’s Josh Cirocco scored his third goal of the season in the loss.

The Lions scored both of their goals early in the second half with their first coming on a throw-in and their second on a corner kick.

Eastern took the 1-0 lead in the 17th minute. Hunter Rosenberg looked for Josh Cirocco with a pass across the field to the left wing, but the pass was redirected by an Albright defender. Cirocco recovered the pass, keeping the play alive, and bolted down the wing. Cirocco, running out of space before the goal line, slid and kicked the ball as he fell past Albright’s diving keeper.

The Eagles fired nine other shots in the first half and 16 total in the game, but were unable to find the back of the net a second time.

Eastern’s 1-0 lead evaporated quickly after halftime. Two minutes into the second half, the Lions took a long throw-in from the right sideline, very close to being a corner. Lions’ leader in points Vitaly Zaluha hurled the ball into the box where it skipped over the head of one Lion and found the feet of Andrew Sussingham who pushed it in for the score.

Eight minutes later, Lion Shawn Murphy released a corner from the left side to the near post where Austin Phillips elevated and headed the ball in for his fourth goal of the year.

Trailing by one, the Eagles pressed up and eventually pulled a defender off the backline to get another player forward. With eight minutes remaining, the Eagles had one of their best chances to knot the game, but back-to-back saves by Albright’s Austin Aldinger denied them the opportunity. Rosenberg had fired a shot from the right flank that bounced out of Aldinger’s hands in front of the goal line, but Aldinger recovered and made the point blank save on the cleanup attempt.

Both Aldinger and Eastern goalkeeper Nick Policastro recorded four saves.

The Eagles play two road games this week, challenging York (Pa.) on Wednesday and then opening conference play against FDU-Florham on Saturday.