St. Petersburg, FL – The Eckerd College men's soccer team hit the pitch Wednesday night at the Turley Athletic Complex looking to pick up a win against the Warriors of Webber International University. After a flurry of action on both ends with all goals being scored in the first half and a defensive shutout in the second half, the Tritons left the field in the losing end of a 2 – 1 decision.
Eckerd (2-3-0) raced down the pitch taking numerous shots until freshman
Matt Duffy was able to knock in the header from a corner kick by senior
Colin Kuhn in the second minute. The goal was Duffy's first of the season as well as his collegiate career.
The Warriors (2-2-0) were able to answer in the eighth minute, as Adam Bates took an unassisted rebound shot in for a score, tying the match.
The game stayed tied until, in the 40th minute, Bates was able to make his final goal and the game winner off of a header on a corner kick.
After the half time break neither team could gain the advantage. The score remained 2 – 1 until the final buzzer. The Tritons were able to attempt 20 shots to the Warriors 15 in the losing effort, with senior
Luke Sheekey leading both sides with seven shots and three shots on goal. Sheekey leads the Tritons offensive effort with 22 shots for the season.
The Tritons return to action Saturday, September 19th, as they travel to Miami Shores, FL to open Sunshine State Conference play against Barry University. Game time is 7pm Eastern Time.
Interview with Coach Jeremy Wisdo by Ashley Daniels
In regard to what held the team back from the win again Webber...
“I think we made some silly errors defensively; we created a lot of chances on offense but
we just couldn't finish. I thought we did a good job on our attack of getting the ball
wide, we just could not finish tonight.”
When asked about the mentality coming off of half time, Coach Wisdo responded...
“We tried to make everything more compact defensively, which we did to a certain extent which is why we start winning the ball more. We talked about just staying focused, it's going to come, not to panic; that we created the chances we just need to finish the chances.”
With regards to tonight's offensive play, Coach Wisdo stated what was holding the team back from being able to connect with the goal…
“Sometimes that is the game of soccer.”
In regard to how preparations are going to go for next opponent Barry, Coach Wisdo stated…
“We are going to fix what we are doing defensively, we are going to tighten up and cut
out some of the errors that are holding us back.”
