The American University men’s soccer team (6-7-1) defeated the Lehigh Mountain Hawks (7-5-3) on Oct. 11 by a score of 3-1.
American entered the game having suffered two consecutive 1-0 losses on the road, first at William & Mary on Sept. 30, and then at Lafayette. Meanwhile, Lehigh entered the game off a win and a loss at home, first losing to Delaware and then winning comfortably against Holy Cross.
On the two-game road trip, head coach Zach Samol said, “I thought we played well against William & Mary and just didn’t get the result. Lafayette’s a tough place to go and play but I don’t think we played poorly, we just didn’t get the result.”
The Eagles came out of the gate sluggish. The Mountain Hawks were quick to pin them back in their own third, winning a corner within the first five minutes of the game.
Lehigh was presented with a glorious chance early when junior forward Thomas Robertson played through a 1-on-1 with senior goalkeeper Matthew Tibbetts. Tibbetts held his own and came up with a huge save to prevent the visitors from taking the early lead.
In the first half, the Eagles struggled to maintain a sustained attacking threat towards the Lehigh goal. Simultaneously, the Eagles committed numerous turnovers, which allowed Lehigh to put pressure on the Eagles’ defense. The lack of sustained possession and turnovers in the final third allowed the Lehigh defense to easily clear any threat from the Eagles.
Lehigh forced Tibbetts into the action twice in the span of two minutes, around the quarter mark of the game, when he saved two shots. The first was a long-range shot that was going wide, and the second was a header from near the penalty spot, which he caught easily.
Fifteen minutes later, Tibbetts again made another crucial 1-on-1 save, this time against Mountain Hawk senior midfielder Yusef Gueye, who was played in. Just like the Robertson chance, Tibbetts made himself big, preventing Lehigh from taking the lead.
While most of the half was dominated by Lehigh, American settled into the game during the last five minutes of the half. They won their first corner in the 42nd minute after good pressing by freshman forward Nicholas Beil. Beil also had an opportunity when he headed sophomore midfielder Kobe Keomany’s cross just over the goal and less than a minute later he deflected graduate student Taku Takahashi’s cross just wide of the goal.
The second half of the game is when the pace started to pick up.
Less than three minutes after the start of the second half, the Eagles opened the scoring against the run of play. After a tackle by senior midfielder Troy Elgersma, the ball found its way to senior midfielder Sebastian Garces. Garces played a ball to graduate forward Mustapha Sowe, who controlled the ball and then fired a shot into the bottom left of the Lehigh net, giving the Eagles a 1-0 lead.
The Eagles had a chance to extend the lead when, just six minutes later, junior midfielder Reyes Parra drew a foul in a dangerous area just outside the Lehigh 18-yard box. Parra then took the subsequent free kick and his curling effort struck the post before it spun out for a Lehigh goal kick.
In the 57th minute, Takahashi gave the Eagles a 2-0 lead after good combination play with Garces on the left side. Takahashi initially played the through ball for Garces, who then played the cut back to Takahashi. He then fired a shot off the crossbar for his first goal of the season.
For the next 20 minutes, Lehigh continued to pressure American as they looked for a way to get back in the game. Tibbetts sharply made another crucial save in the 64th minute to preserve American’s two-goal lead. Lehigh sophomore midfielder Aiden Gonzalez cut the loss in half when he scored from outside the box, giving Lehigh life.
American worked relentlessly to prevent Lehigh from finding the equalizer. American managed to put the game away when sophomore forward Colin O’Brien won a free kick in a dangerous position. Sophomore midfielder Chris Sullivan took the free kick and hit the ball to the back post. It was headed in by Keomany for the first goal of his American career.
The Eagles held out for the last 10 minutes and took home a 3-1 victory over the Mountain Hawks. This victory put American in a tie atop the Patriot League standings with Boston University.
Tibbetts had five saves, while Garces tallied 2 assists, bringing his total to a team high of 4 assists on the season. Sowe’s goal is his third of the season, which is tied with Elgersma for most on the team. Even though the Mountain Hawks outshot the Eagles six to five, the Eagles were more clinical with their chances.
“I think the difference in soccer can sometimes be moments of quality,” Samol said, “Those were two moments of quality and then the set piece from Chris Sullivan to Kobe Keomany was the third.”
As the Eagles push towards the postseason, Sowe highlighted how important playing at Reeves has been for the team.
“We take pride in playing at home, and we’re undefeated at home and we’d love to keep it that way,” Sowe said. “We’re just looking to play at Reeves in the postseason, because we believe it’s the best field in the Patriot League.”
The Eagles lost at #10 West Virginia University on Oct 14. They followed it up with a win against Boston at home on their senior day on Oct. 19.
This article was edited by Connor Sturniolo, Penelope Jennings and Walker Whalen. Copy editing done by Sabine Kanter-Huchting, Avery Grossman, Ryan Sieve and Ava Stuzin.
