Finally, the AU men's soccer game won its first game of the year Sunday at Reeves Field, pummeling Drexel 5-0 on a therapeutic afternoon for what, until then, had been a frustrated offense.
The Eagles (1-2-1) pounded a staggering 29 shots toward Drexel's goal, while the Dragons (1-1-1) rarely threatened AU's end. Still, in the first half the Eagles struggled to ensure a score line as lopsided as the run of play.
"We didn't expect 5-0," said AU head coach Todd West. "But sometimes that happens when you're ready to play.... We told the team at some point we would go off for a three or four goal game, because the chances we were creating we weren't finishing."
Junior midfielder Sal Caccavale's 59th minute goal proved the match's decisive moment.
Until that strike, AU, although leading 1-0 on Garth Juckem's breakaway effort, still struggled to finish. In the 49th minute, charging Dragon 'keeper Nick Macri denied junior forward Larry Mark after Caccavale's crafty pass sprung Mark into a 1-on-1. Three minutes later, Juckem nodded freshman midfielder Tomer Konowiecki's cross just wide of the lest post. And on the run in the 58th minute Caccavale smacked a shot off the left post.
But a minute later, Caccavale and Mark nixed their frustration, when Mark blocked a poor Drexel clear with his chest, and found Caccavale on the left, who coolly slotted the ball far post.
"Larry is probably one of the fastest kids I've ever played with, and the more I find him, the more he'll find me," Caccavale said. "Larry just picked off (the clearance), and after I hit the post, there was no way I was going to give that chance away."
For Caccavale, who suffered a concussion in the season's opening weekend at the D.C. College Cup, and looked lost during portions of Friday's 2-1 loss to Princeton, it was promising response.
"He was cheating almost as a forward," West said of Caccavale's play Friday. "He's not a forward, he's midfielder. He's there because we want him around the ball, but when he's playing forward he's looking for someone else to get him the ball. Today he was more involved because he (played like) a midfielder."
Meanwhile, Mark, a transfer from Rutgers, continued to look promising despite also being injured through the preseason, and flubbing some early chances. And using his blistering pace, he scored his second goal of the weekend through sheer opportunism, reaching a poor Dragon backpass before a charging Macri and knocking into an empty net.
In the 75th minute, senior midfielder Coco Del Rio scored on a sensational volley to the top left corner from 15 yards after chesting a Juckem corner kick to himself. Drexel punctuated its own frustration in the 82nd minute, when defender Bryan Ruff accidentally nodded an AU corner into his own goal.
Juckem combined with senior midfielder Gordon Templeman to open the scoring in the 27th minute, sprinting past the defense, reaching Templeman's long diagonal free kick on the left flank, and scoring before Macri took out his legs on a late challenge.
Friday, the Eagles saw their early struggles reach a head with a disheartening 2-1 loss to Princeton on two goals from Tiger forward Adrian Melville.
The Eagles looked dangerous in the opening half, but in the second Melville's winner seemed inevitable, as Princeton dominated in both possession and offensive chances.
"I thought that was the poorest performance we've had since we put this team together on August 17," West said. "We reacted instead of playing. Our back four was disorganized. We created chances, but we weren't prepared to play, so we couldn't finish those."
The speedy, powerful Melville, a constant threat to the AU back line with his slashing runs, siezed his most important chance in the 68th minute.
Tiger midfielder Neil Chaurdhuri evaded a couple AU challenges before spraying a pass left to Teddy Wolfson. From the corner, Wolfson drove a low cross to Melville, who hammered off the palm of outstretched AU sophomore 'keeper Chris Sedlak into the lower left corner from 6 yards.
That capped a sting of second-half Tiger opportunities. Melville should have scored in the 58th minute, when he was denied by a goal-line kick save from AU freshman back Tremaine Chinapoo. Seconds before, Sedlak kicked away Tiger midfielder Alex Reison's close-range effort.
The first half progressed much like AU's opening weekend at the D.C. College Cup, with the Eagles unable to transform consistent pressure into goals.
"We didn't come out as sharp as we want to," said Mark, who scored AU's goal Friday. "If we put in our chances we're easily up three goals early. But we miss a couple easy chances, have some defensive lapses, and we find ourselves in a hole."
But AU - and Princeton - did find the goal in a wild 14th minute. First, Princeton's Melville got his first, when Reison's diagonal ball skipped pass AU junior defender Nathan Baker, leaving an easy finish.
Mark leveled it on a simple goal, sprinting behind Princeton back Jame Wunsch to reach Juckem's long throw-in from AU's defensive half. Mark finished low from close range past Princeton 'keeper Bobby Guelich.
