Colgate Capitalizes on Clearing Error, Shuts Out Navy Men's Soccer Team

Navy outshot the Raiders, 10-6, in the second half, but was unable to find the back of the net.

	Senior keeper Thomas Jenkins made a pair of saves in the opening half to keep Colgate off the board.

Oct. 27, 2007

Box Score

HAMILTON, N.Y. - Despite a solid defensive effort by a Navy team riddled with injuries, an error at midfield led to a Matt Leach goal in the 61st minute and a 1-0 Colgate victory over the Navy men's soccer team Saturday night at Van Doren Field in Hamilton, N.Y. Navy, who has played three of its last four contests on the road, is now 7-6-2, including an 0-5 mark in Patriot League play, while Colgate improves to 8-4-3 and is atop the league standings with its 4-0-1 record.

"It's a disappointing loss especially when our guys played hard and left everything they had out on the field," said Navy head coach Rich Miranda. "I felt like we really shut them out in the second half. We stuck to our gameplan and it worked. But in the game of soccer, if you make one small mistake, you risk being punished.

"I felt like this game would be a one-goal game and we just didn't do a good enough job at midfield tonight. We've had to make a number of adjustments due to the injuries we've suffered, but even with the change in our back, we did a good job."

The two teams played a scoreless opening half with Colgate outshooting the Midshipmen, 12-2. Despite the shot differential, Colgate put just two of its 12 shots on goal with Navy senior keeper Thomas Jenkins (Franklin, N.C.) warding off both shots to preserve the scoreless half.

Navy came out a more determined, disciplined ball club in the second stanza, as its offense maintained control of the ball and kept Colgate on its heels throughout the early minutes.

The Raiders finally found the back of the net after Navy struggled to clear the ball out of the midfield. Colgate senior Eric Anton took a shot from the left side, but his shot was stopped by the Mids and pushed up to the right side of the field. However, Colgate's Chris Ross took control of the ball and sent it towards the goal where it deflected off a defender and was tapped into the right side of the goal by Leach at the 60:21 mark.

Minutes later, Navy nearly knotted the game up when senior Travis King's (Loveland, Ohio) shot just skipped over the cross bar. With just under 14 minutes to play, the Mids' throw-in made its way into the box and was batted around before Colgate finally kicked the ball out of play.

Navy kept coming after Colgate, this time with eight minutes to play. Sophomore defender Matt Tapajcik (Alexandria, Va.) sent a shot to the cage that was blocked by Colgate and deflected over to Navy rookie forward Mike Porcelli (West Islip, N.Y.). Porcelli gathered the ball and fired off a low shot that was scooped up by Colgate keeper David Cappuccio.

Colgate ended the game with an 18-12 shots advantage and turned in a 6-0 advantage in corners. The Raiders also owned an 11-5 fouls edge over the Midshipmen.

The Midshipmen will be back in action next Saturday when they travel to Easton, Pa. to battle Lafayette, who is tied with Holy Cross for third place in the Patriot League with a 2-1-2 record. Game time is set for 7:00 pm.

### Go Navy ###