Men's soccer ties twice in weekend games, 1-1, 2-2

10/28/08 - The University of Rhode Island's men's soccer team tied with George Washington University 1-1 on Friday, and 2-2 to Richmond University on Saturday. They are now 6-5-3 overall this season, and 2-1-2 in conference play.In Friday's game, the Rams trailed almost the entire first half. At the 8:27 mark in the first half, George Washington's Dave Leon passed to Erick Perez-Segnini who then scored. Rhode Island applied pressure the entire half, outshooting George Washington 9-4, and in the 20th minute, almost tied the game when senior Kevin Hamill fired a shot that GW goalkeeper Matt Scheer stopped.

Freshman Erkko Puranen found the rebound, but sent it over the crossbar. The Rams almost scored again four minutes later, but another great save by Scheer blocked the Rams. The score would remain 1-0 GW until the very last second of the half, when URI senior Kedan Crosby scored his third goal of the season off the assist from senior Andres Perdomo.

As the second half started, Rhode Island continued to apply pressure to GW. Puranen set up sophomore Michael Tanke with a pass right to center, but Tanke's shot went a bit too high, sailing over the crossbar. The Rams continued to apply pressure, but GW did not roll over for them.

Junior Chris Pennock did a great job keeping the game tied. A diving save robbed Perez-Segnini a second goal of the game, and prevented GW from taking the lead in the 76th minute. Pennock would make two more saves in regulation, and two more in overtime, keeping the game tied at 1.

Coach John O'Conner after the game felt that "Chris really was the difference for us tonight."

"He made a couple of absolutely incredible saves out there and really kept us in the game," O'Conner said.

The Rams then played Richmond on Sunday. After Friday's tie, Rhode Island was looking to come out strong against Richmond, who is now 2-10-3 overall, and 1-2-3 in conference games. The Rams definitely did come out strong, and appeared to control the ball for most of the first half.

Richmond seemed to be a little timid in the first half, and Rhode Island took advantage of it. In the 19th minute of play, Puranen tore down field on a breakaway. A little slip by Richmond's Brennan Lincoln left Puranen alone with goalkeeper Brock Tomlinson. Puranen got around Tomlinson, and gave Rhode Island the lead at 1-0.

The Rams had a few more opportunities to score in the first half, but just missed almost every opportunity. They had a few corner kicks that went just wide of the goal, and Tomlinson did a fantastic job keeping the game close.

In the 60th minute of the match, Rhode Island extended their lead to 2-0, when Puranen got the assist from Crosby, and scored on Tomlinson. Richmond seemed to be a new team in the second half however, being more aggressive on offense. Their solid defense in the first half just improved as well, and five minutes after Puranen scored his second goal of the game, Richmond would close the gap. Lincoln would make up for slipping in the first half, when he got a pass from Ty Williams, and scored in the bottom left corner of the goal. Richmond continued to be aggressive on offense, and it appeared to frustrate the Rhode Island defense.

In the 84th minute of the game, Jake Russell scored on a free kick from about 20 yards out. The ball sailed over Pennock, hitting the top right corner of the net, tying the game at two points each.

Neither team scored again. This was Rhode Island's second tie in as many games, and O'Conner said that may be tough to come back from. "We're definitely not out," he said. "But every game now means that much more." O'Conner feels that he has a young team, who will "win it, but give it away later on in the games. We need to do a better job finishing games, and that only comes with experience. This is a young team, and hopefully we can learn from this weekend and go on from there."

The Rams won't be home until Nov. 7, when they play Charlotte. They travel to Fordham next Friday, and La Salle on Sunday.