RUTLAND—College of St. Joseph men’s and women’s soccer teams each got their seasons underway on Sunday, Aug. 28. The men’s team is looking to build on a successful 2015 campaign that ended with an 11-7-1 overall record. The women are fielding their first team in three years, and hope to see consistent improvement as the season continues.
It was a difficult start to the season for both teams on Sunday. Lady Saints soccer traveled to SUNY Delhi to take on the Broncos and learned quickly that they have a room for improvement. The Broncos showed no mercy on the Saints, scoring 14 goals in the first half of play. CSJ was unable to find the back of the net throughout the entire game.
Lady Saints goalkeeper Florence Tavares was in the hot seat all afternoon. She had an impressive 17 saves on the day, but the shots just kept coming. The Broncos would not let up and ended the game with a staggering 31 shots on goal. Tavares did her best, but SUNY Delhi was simply too dominant.
Men’s soccer hosted a well-coached and well-disciplined Southern Maine CC team on Sunday. The two teams faced off once last year and SMCC was able to pull out a victory in overtime. The Saints wanted to change the outcome this time around, but were unable to do so.
It was a tough, physical and tightly contested matchup, but the Saints were unable to take advantage of their opportunities and eventually fell to Southern Maine CC 3-1. Dominick Simpson had the lone goal for CSJ, coming in the 26th minute to tie the game at 1-1.
In the second half, CSJ started running out of steam and gave up two quick goals to make the score 3-1 in Southern Maine’s favor. The Saints fought hard to come back, but could not withstand the aggressive attack that SMCC brought to the field on Sunday.
Upcoming games: Men’s Soccer hosts Dean College on Saturday, Sept. 3 at 2 p.m. Women’s Soccer is on the road until Saturday, Sept. 10 when they host Paul Smith’s College at 12:30 p.m.
