Sept. 26, 2010

Box Score

Princeton, NJ - The Adelphi men's soccer team traveled to Princeton, New Jersey on Sunday, September 26 to conclude play at the Princeton Invitational. The Panthers fell to the host Tigers by the score of 3-0, but with their 1-1 record and a victory over #25 UPenn, Adelphi finished the invitational second. With the loss Adelphi fell to 5-3 with the loss, while Princeton improved to 3-3-1.

Adelphi outshot Princeton 21-13 in the game, including an 11-4 differential in the first half. However Princeton had seven gshots on goal to Adelphi's six.

A little more than two minutes into the game Josh Walburn had a header on the Adelphi goal that was turned away by Adelphi goalkeeper Thorne Holder. A minute later Antoine Hoppenot had a chance but after settling the ball and shooting around his defender, Holder again came up with the stop.

The Tigers finally snuck one by Holder in the 13th minute when Walburn scored his first goal of the season. A corner kick by Schneider sailed into the box where Walburn headed it in at the near post.

Holder made a great stop on a Hoppenot/Matt Sanner play in the 14th minute. Hoppenot delivered a great feed to Sanner near the top of the goal box, but Holder crashed to the ball.

Adelphi started to settle into the game and had its first significant offensive chances in the final 20 minutes of the first half.

Princeton got lucky when John Koutsounadis crossed the ball in to Issa Tall who had a wide open look at the net but his shot went over the bar.

In the 23rd minute Adelphi had a free kick about 20 yards out but the shot taken by Alexander Kouznetsov, careened too far left around the man-made wall. The Panthers would take another free kick from the same location in the 38th minute, but they used a short pass out to the right that was sent low in on Lynch who came up with the save.

The second half was more balanced offensively, ten minutes in Princeton nearly saw its lead slip away when Quintel Gates had a shot saved by Lynch before a rebound by Steven Kocal was blocked by a Princeton defender.

The Panthers were assessed a corner kick a minute later. The ball floated into play and Lynch punched the ball away where it deflected towards the goal but was blocked at the near post by Adelphi's Kouznetsov's back.

In the 57th minute, the Adelphi defense came up big for Holder after a Schneider corner kick was headed by Sanner and saved off the line by an Adelphi defender. Princeton got its second goal in the 62nd minute, when Manny Sardinha crossed the ball into the box to Hoppenot who turned and fired into the lower left corner.

Less than three minutes later Hoppenot put the game away for the Tigers. Sanner pushed the ball ahead into the open field and Hoppenot ran onto the ball at the near post, where he was able to send a shot into the lower right corner to make it 3-0 in the 65th minute.

Lynch finished the game with six saves in his second shutout of the season for Princeton, while Holder made three stops. One save was credited to the team, which falls to 5-3 overall.

For their play, Tall, Holder and Mauricio Mora were each named to the All-Tournament team.

Adelphi returns to action on Wednesday, September 29 when they travel to Washington, DC to face Georgetown at 7:00 pm