Boxscore
HAMILTON, N.Y. (09/14/05) – The Colgate men’s soccer team kept its unbeaten streak alive after a 2-1 victory over Albany on Wednesday evening under the lights of Van Doren Field. The win keeps Colgate unbeaten on the season with a 2-0-2 record, the only undefeated team in the Patriot League.
This is the first time that Colgate has begun a season with a four-game unbeaten streak since the undefeated team of 1960, went 9-0.
"Our team played extremly hard tonight against a very good team, and I think they (Colgate) deserved the victory," said first-year head coach Erik Ronning (Class of '97). "Their work ethic is tremendous in the way they are committed to defending, and that is what helped us earn the win tonight. We are improving every game, defensively as well as offensively, and will continue to do so to prepare for Army on Saturday."
Colgate capitalized on a throw-in in the offensive zone that was picked up by sophomore Dan Belke (West Bloomfield, Mich./West Bloomfield). Belke’s shot was blocked but sophomore Eric Anton (Tacoma, Wash./Charles Wright Academy) found the ball and headed it home to put the Raiders on the board at 31:12.
Just over four minutes later, Albany’s Stephan Hall was taken down on a drive in the box and was given a penalty kick. With an open shot at the net on, Hall knocked it past Colgate keeper Doug Litvack (Levittown, N.Y./Long Island Lutheran) to the right corner of the net to even the scoring at one apiece.
The Raiders had a great opportunity to make it 2-1 before the half, at 4:44, when Albany’s Steward Ceus came too far out of the box on a Colgate rush. Mike Parshley (Lexington, Mass./Lexington) took a shot but running to make the save was Alex Ruhle-Lischke.
At 56:51 of the contest, a ball that was lofted too high was headed by an Albany player, then Devin Deane (Oswego, N.Y./Oswego) put a head on the ball to move it closer to center field. Freshman Jimmy Stephens (Naperville, Ill./Benet Academy) put the ball down on the ground, dribbled around his defender and sent a cross back to Deane, who snuck it past Ceus in net for the eventual game-winner.
The pace quickened after Colgate’s second goal. At 32:12, a foul called on Colgate looked to be a great chance for Albany to even the game. A free kick 25 yards out was taken by Erik DiLorzeno that ricocheted off the man-made Raider wall and went careening towards Litvack, who made a diving save to stop the ball.
Albany had another close scoring opportunity after a long ball was sent up into the Albany offensive zone. A cross was taken and sent to the foot of Gaby Seguin-Gauthier who had perfect shot on net with no Colgate defenders around him, but he kicked the ball just wide of the net.
With just 2:05 remaining, Deane found himself in a one-on-one with the Albany keeper. Ceus ran up to the ball and knocked it away from Deane’s reach.
Ceus made three saves in net for Albany, while Colgate’s Litvack made four stops and increased his record to 2-0-2 on the season.
Colgate will kick off the Patriot League schedule on Saturday, September 17 when they host Army at 7 p.m. at Van Doren Field. The game is slated to be Colgate men’s soccer alumni day, with past members of Colgate’s soccer history in attendance.
