No. 19 ETSU Closes Out No. 14 William & Mary, 2-0, in Stihl Soccer Classic
Schoenfeld and Fubara selected to All-Tournament Team
NORFOLK, Va. (September 11, 2011) – The No. 19 ETSU men’s soccer team got redemption on Sunday afternoon at the ODU Soccer Complex, defeating No. 14 William & Mary, 2-0, in its second game of the Stihl Soccer Classic.
Freshman Simon Schroettle (Rain, Germany) scored the game-winning goal, and Frank Doumbe (Silver Springs, Md.) added to the lead late as the Bucs head back to Johnson City with a 1-1 record in the tournament, with each game coming against a ranked opponent.
"It was a very good game between two excellent teams that each wanted to play today," said head coach Scott Calabrese. "We asked our guys to respond [after losing to Old Dominion] and they did just that. They worked extremely hard, fought the entire time and were able to grind out a win against a ranked team. We're very proud of them."
Both teams came into Sunday with something to prove. William & Mary suffered a defeat against Monmouth, 1-0, on Friday afternoon while ETSU (4-1-0) looked to put the ODU game behind them, and come out strong with another opportunity to showcase its skills against a top-25 team.
The first half saw the Tribe attack first with two early chances. William & Mary lined up for its first corner of the match just five minutes into the action, but the Bucs' defense cleared the attempt out of play to force a second corner that would again be cleared.
Senior Aaron Schoenfeld (Knoxville, Tenn.) spurred the first chance for ETSU. The senior captain fired the game’s first shot in the 10th minute, but had it blocked by the Tribe’s back line. Not a minute passed before Schoenfeld created a second chance. As Schoenfeld dished a pass off to David Geno (Kingsport, Tenn.) up the left side of the box, Geno fired a shot with his left foot that slid past William & Mary’s Colin Smolinsky in goal and barely edged past the right post.
Halfway through the period Doumbe got his first opportunity to score when he shook a defender and tried to slide a ball under Smolinsky, but the Tribe’s keeper was not fooled and pounced on the ball to stop the threat.
With the game still scoreless, sophomore Ryan Coulter (Dublin, Ireland) made a vital save to keep William & Mary off the board. As the Tribe gained possession on their own half of the field, a ball was sent through the air that sent William & Mary on a breakaway. Alone with just Coulter in front, the Tribe’s Chris Albiston took a shot but Coulter swiftly jumped right to get a hand on the ball and keep the game scoreless. Coulter finished the game with six saves, on 16 shots faced, to record his fourth shutout of the season.
Three dangerous fouls led to multiple opportunities for both teams through the final five minutes of the half, and ETSU capitalized with two minutes remaining. Schroettle lined up for a free kick from 35 yards out on the left side and sent in a ball that sailed over everybody in the box. Smolinsky, waiting for an ETSU attacker to get a head on the ball, stood flat-footed as the shot went into the right side and ETSU took the halftime lead.
"It feels great to score my first goal for ETSU today," said Schroettle. "We lost, 4-0, to ODU [on Friday], so it was up to the whole team to demonstrate that we can do better. We defeated an even higher ranked team today, so I think we can keep this with us into next weekend and go on."
The Bucs and Tribe took seven shots and two corners apiece in the opening half, with Coulter making four saves.
ETSU had a goal waved off 15 minutes into the second frame when Geno collected a loose ball in the center of the box. Seeing Alesi Osorio (Austin, Texas) in front, Geno quickly got rid of the ball and Osorio put it in the net, but the flag was up and the goal was negated.
As the clock showed 20 minutes to play, William & Mary had a great opportunity with a clear view of goal from in front but could not convert. Rosham Patel had the ball directly in front of goal for the Tribe and went to fire a shot as David Haba (Germantown, Tenn.) stuck his foot in front and blocked the dangerous attempt from reaching goal.
With six minutes to play the Bucs would seal the victory courtesy of Doumbe. William & Mary lined up for a corner kick down just one goal, but Schoenfeld cleared the danger away and Doumbe sprinted out towards the ball. With a Tribe defender in front, Doumbe used his exceptional speed to cut in front, taking the ball all the way to the box and firing from 10 yards in the left side to put ETSU up two goals.
The Bucs kept William & Mary off the scoreboard through the Tribe’s final attempts, and picked up their second victory over a ranked opponent this year, improving their record to 2-1 against teams in the top 25.
At the conclusion of the ODU and Monmouth game that followed, Schoenfeld and Fubara were selected to the Stihl Soccer Classic All-Tournament Team. They joined Andrew Mahan and Michael Teimann of William and Mary, Anthony Vazquez, R.J. Allen and Joseph Schmid of Monmouth, and Tom Hopkinson, Victor Francoz, Alex DeJohn and Jordan LeBlanc of Old Dominion, with Leblanc being named Tournament MVP.
The ETSU men’s soccer team will return home on Saturday, September 17, when they welcome Davidson into Summers-Taylor Stadium at 7 p.m.
For more information on ETSU men’s soccer please visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the men’s soccer links.
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