STANDISH, Maine – University of Southern Maine (1-0-0) took advantage of a Saint Joseph's College (0-1-0) own goal to defeat the Monks, 1-0, in what was the 2022 men's soccer season opener for both programs at the SJC Athletics Complex on Thursday afternoon.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
St. Joe's maintained possession for most of the game and held a 20-1 lead in shots, but a defensive miscue in the 61st minute proved to be the difference in the Monks' first season-opening setback in eight years. Fighting for the ball at midfield, a USM midfielder unleashed a lofty kick into the SJC box where a Saint Joseph's defender miss-timed a header that sailed over the head of senior keeper Mike Sheridan (Folsom, Pa.) and into an open net.
Despite holding the sizeable lead in shots, the Monks managed to register few real scoring chances in the loss. The first took place midway through the first half when grad student Kyle Cocciardi (Manchester, N.H.) belted a shot that sailed just above the crossbar.
Perhaps the Monks' best opportunity to get on the board occurred in the 89th minute, when senior Alec Kosinski (East Lyme, Conn.) found a seam in the box and sent a shot towards the bottom right corner of the net, but USM keeper Hayes Estrella (Kennebunk, Maine) made a diving stop to preserve the victory.
TEAM STATS:
The Monks held the lead in shots (20-1), shots on goal (9-0), and corner kicks (13-1) in the losing effort.
THE KEEPERS:
Estrella made eight saves in the Huskies' victory while Sheridan did not face a shot in the 2022 opener.
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:
With the loss, Saint Joseph's falls to 14-13-4 all-time versus University of Southern Maine and falls at the hands of the Huskies for the first time since September 10th, 2014 when USM tipped SJC, 1-0, in Gorham…prior to this afternoon, the Monks had won 13-consecutive home games – the side's last loss at the SJC Athletics Complex was a 1-0 setback to WPI…the Monks are now 40-2-2 all-time on the turf, which opened in 2017.
NEXT!
The Monks are back in action on Tuesday when the Royal Blue play host to Endicott College in a 7:00 PM start.