The Saint’s men soccer team had a very successful week as they won both of their games without conceding a single goal, and saw their national ranking jump from 19th to 16th in the country.
The Saints are now 7-1-2 on the season and will look to keep their winning streak going as they play two away Liberty League opponents, Vassar and Bard, next weekend.
The first game of week had the Saints hosting nationally ranked and undefeated SUNY Plattsburg on Wednesday. Despite the Saints out shooting Plattsburg 9-2 at the end of the first half, the score was still knotted up at 0-0.
Things would finally come together for the Saints late in the second half however, when first-year Brendan McNamee would send in cross to the far side of box in the 78th minute. There fellow first year Tapshak Augustine would make an excellent play, as he quickly controlled the ball and fired a shot past the Plattsburg goalkeeper. This would Augustine’s fourth goal of the season, NcNamee’s first career colligate assist. The Saints out shot Plattsburg 16-5 and, thanks to a late goal, would be victorious with a 1-0 victory.
The other game came on Saturday as the Saints hosted fellow Liberty League member RIT for their first Conference game of the season.
Augustine was impressive yet again, as he would score in the 41st minute to put the Saints up 1-0 at half time. Sophomore Kevin O’Neill made a great play on the ball along the endline to keep the it in play, and then would chip it over the RIT defense to find Augustine in the midfield, where he would do the rest.
That was Augustine’s fifth goal of the season, and he now leads the Saint’s in scoring as a first year. In the second half the Saints would pick right where they left off, as in the 57th minute the team would draw a free kick from 25 yards out. Junior Noah Bunton would then touch the ball forward to teammate 16’ Morgan Smith who proceeded to unload an incredibly hard shot along the ground that would find the back of the net to round out a nice 2-0 victory for the Saints.
These past two shut outs are nothing new for the Saints this season, as eight of the their tens game played have ended in a clean sheet. This solidifies the Saints as a dominant defensive team with a great back line led by last year All-American and senior Harry Copeland.