The Ashland University men’s soccer team has had a less-than-favorable beginning to its 2023-24 campaign as the team has now lost four contests in a row to non-conference opponents.
On Saturday, Sept. 9, the Eagles took on the traveling Mercyhurst Lakers, who are currently receiving national ranking votes in the Division II scene, and fell to them in the 1-0 affair.
The Eagles opened the season against No. 5 nationally ranked Charleston, falling 3-1. They would then go on to take on Millersville and Gannon, where they would lose 3-1 and 3-2 respectively.
In the team’s most recent contest against the Lakers, another loss would appear in the win-loss column for the Eagles as the mistakes continue to occur.
To start, the Eagles outshot its opposition by a 6-3 count while also playing drastically more aggressively and physically. In the first half of play, they would be called for eight fouls. However, even with such high-intensity play being shown, neither team would get on the board in the first half.
As the second half rolled around, it was obvious that the two sides were going to continue to battle back and forth with one another. Right as the second half began, a yellow card would be addressed to Eagle forward Vander Rocha as he tackled a Laker down to the turf.
Just nine minutes later another yellow card would be given out as Eagle defender Abdul Kawa got too aggressive, bringing a Laker to the turf again. With two yellow cards occurring within the first 1o minutes of the second half, the intensity was apparent as the Eagles looked to finally pull off a win.
However, directly after the yellow card was given to Kawa the scoreline would be opened up with Laker midfielder Dylan Sumner finding the back of the net with his first shot of the second half.
With the Lakers leading the Eagles attempted to get back into the contest, but the offense continued to sputter. To add insult to injury, four more yellow card would be assessed to Laker and Eagle players from the 65th to 75th minute.
In the 83rd minute, Rocha would be given his second yellow card, ultimately removing him from the contest and putting the Eagles down to 10 men.
They would be unable to find the equalizer with a man down, falling 1-0 to the Lakers when the final whistle was blown.
“We are now going to increase the intensity in training, increase the number of session and must work harder if we want to bounce back,” said defender Francesco Chiappo. “The team is willing to get back and prove everybody that what they saw wasn’t really us as we have a lot more to show and prove.”
The Eagles next look to bounce back in conference play as they take on the Walsh University Cavaliers at home with kickoff set for 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 13 at Ferguson Field.
