The Quad

Issue date: 9/24/07 Section: Sports

The defending PSAC champion East Stroudsburg visited West Chester Monday afternoon in a showdown between two of the best teams in the division. The Golden Rams saw their three game winning streak snapped just two days prior at home against Slippery Rock.

Soccer is a game of inches though. ESU proved that adage as The Warriors got a bounce to go their way, while West Chester bounced a ball off the post with minutes left in the game to allow East Stroudsburg to sneak out of West Chester with a 2-1 victory.

"We had our chances to put goals in, and two of their goals I don't think were legitimate goals," Junior midfielder Mike Pryor said.

Though ESU showed dominance over West Chester last season, this game showed that West Chester could play on the same level as the top team.

"If we take care of our chances we can compete with Stroudsburg," Pryor noted.

Stroudsburg's first goal came off confusion in the midfield. Junior forward Anthony Henry got his signals crossed with first-year fullback Kevin Ballick. Ballick came running past Henry to get into a better spot to receive the pass, but Henry was already sending the ball into the backfield. The ESU Warriors capitalized as Jason Shegda took the turnover and Josh Harris was caught with too many men to cover. Shegda found junior forward Kevin Holmes who went in all alone on West Chester goalie Garrett Santora. Holmes sent the ball over Santora's head, and just under the cross bar, just nine minutes into the game. Shegda, the reigning PSAC player of the week, now has twelve points on the season.

ESU dominated the ball the entire first half tallying nine shots.

"We really didn't bring it right from the start like they did," Pryor said about the Golden Rams weak start to the game.

ESU struck early in the second half as well on a goal credited to sophmore defenseman Danny Drago at the 61 minute mark of the game. Off the cross from ESU's Dan Evans, Drago knocked goaltender Garrett Santora over. Both players were on the ground, but Drago found the ball first for his third goal of the season

Following the goal, Santoro was pulled out of the game with an injury. The contact with Drago worried Coach Walkes enough to make a change at goal. Justin Johnson checked in and finished the game for the Golden Rams. Santora tallied four saves and two goals against in 61 minutes of play.

The Golden Rams already have been hurt by injuries this season. Senior captain Ben Gotwald missed the game with a hamstring injury. However, Jason Mackel stepped into Gotwald's spot to play a very physical game in the backfield.

Continued...

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