SAINT LEO, Fla.—The Barry men’s soccer team sneaked away from University Field with a 2-0 win over the Saint Leo Lions on Saturday on the Lion’s Senior Night.
“At home Saint Leo plays so well,” head coach Steve McCrath said. “I was a little fearful that they would come out of the gate hot, and they did but we responded. It took us an entire half to get a goal, but it was nice to see our team doing exactly what we wanted them to do to start the second half.”
Even though the first half ended scoreless, both teams saw their fair share of opportunities to break the scoreless tie. Buccaneer keeper Johnny Rodrigues came up with several clutch saves throughout the game. In the 6th minute Saint Leo’s leading scorer Edgar Herrera flicked a header toward goal but Rodrigues’ diving save preserved his clean sheet.
At the 10:16 mark, Herrera again blasted a shot off the post. Then finally, with less than 10:00 minutes to play in the first period Jonathan Glenn found the ball at his feet at the top of the six from a Bruce Cutler corner. Glenn launched a point blank shot but Rodrigues again was in perfect position for the save.
For the Bucs in the first half, Joong Kim took a nicely placed thorough from Sasch Koettig on a one on one opportunity against Saint Leo keeper Jake Hirst. Hirst calmly made the save to keep the game scoreless.
Another prime opportunity for the Bucs came at the 27:46 mark. Koettig’s shot from the top of the box just rolled wide as Hirst made a late dive for the save.
Rodrigues tallied four saves in the first period while Hirst countered with three. The Bucs out-shot Saint Leo 10-6 as well in the first period.
The scoring started for Barry just over 00:30 second into the start of the second period. Anderson worked the ball to the Lion’s touchline and rifled a pass to Koettig on top of the six-yard box. Koettig’s lightening quick flick froze the Saint Leo keeper as the senior collected his eighth goal of the year and 19th point.
Saint Leo increased the intensity during the latter part of the second half with their team’s back against the wall. But it was Barry with the dagger to put the game away at the 88:32 mark. Anderson again fought his way to the Saint Leo touchline and sent a ball to the far post for Kim. Kim’s perfectly placed header found the back of the net to give the Bucs a 2-0 cushion in the game. The game ended with Barry successfully resisting the heavy Lion’s push late in the game.
“I was really excited about that insurance goal,” McCrath said. “It’s easy to think you have done the job and take time off with a one goal lead late in the game, but we did exactly the opposite. We have to finish things off in this conference. Teams in the Sunshine State are just too good to relax any late in a game. It was great for the team and great for the confidence of the team to put that last goal through.”
Anderson posted his first two assist game of the year and Rodrigues registered his seventh shutout. The junior striker is tied for the team lead in assists with seven.
“I thought we had a great team performance tonight,” Anderson said.”Johnny [Rodrigues] really kept us in it in the first half with some phenomenal saves. In the second half I took the ball wide and saw where Sascha [Koettig] was making his run and he put it in with a great finish. Then our last goal was huge as well. We needed to put the game away and we did exactly that. Joong has been working hard all year and it was nice to see him get a goal on a great header.”
The next game for Barry is Friday, Oct. 29th at Eckerd. Kick-off is set for 7:00 with pregame coverage starting at 6:00 p.m., on the Buccaneer Broadcasting Network. Click on the GameCentral logo at the Barry athletics homepage to access live game coverage.
Barry (8-2-3, 4-1-1 SSC) vs. Saint Leo (9-5-0, 3-5-0 SSC)
Date: 10/23/10 Attendance: 158
Weather: Warm and Breezy
Goals by period 1 2 Tot
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Barry............... 0 2 - 2
Saint Leo........... 0 0 - 0
SCORING SUMMARY:
1. 45:33 BUM Sascha Koettig (8) (Mark Anderson) - Ball chipped in from left edge of penalty area.
2. 88:32 BUM Joong Kim (1) (Mark Anderson)
Shots: Barry 17, Saint Leo 11
Saves: Barry 7 (Johnny Rodrigues 7), Saint Leo 4 (Jake Hirst 4)
Men's Soccer Downs Lions
Posted On : October 23, 2010
