EASTON, PA – The St. Francis Brooklyn men’s soccer team earned a 1-0 shutout victory over Lafayette in its season opener on Friday evening. The Terriers have shutout opponents in four out of their last five regular season contests dating back to October 22, 2017.

 

HOW IT HAPPENED:

 

Over the course of the first 20 minutes of action, both sides were feeling out one another before the opening tally. The Terriers applied early pressure as junior Marco Torriani recorded a pair of shots and junior Julien Remiti attempted a corner kick in the 18^th minute.

 

Just two minutes after Remiti’s corner attempt, St. Francis Brooklyn would strike. Junior Amir Islami found the back of the net, his second career goal and first since 2016. Islami tipped in a free ball that was in the box to give the Terriers a 1-0 lead, a lead that they wouldn’t relinquish.

 

St. Francis Brooklyn put forth a stout defensive effort en route to its 23^rd regular season shutout victory since the start of the 2015 season. Junior goalkeeper Nicolas Casado earned his second career win (both shutouts); his first win came against Howard (1-0) on September 6, 2017. The junior stopped both shots that came his way tonight.

 

The Terriers outshot the Leopards 8-6. Four of their shots were on goal, opposed to two for Lafayette. Senior Ali Tounkara registered two shots, one on goal. 

 

NOTES FROM THE COACH:

“I thought the guys played well tonight, a lot of guys – particularly off the bench had an impact on the game, which is tremendous. Lafayette is always a tough team, very physical, very disciplined, and is a hard team to break down. Lafayette’s well coached and its great to have the first game out on the road and get a result,” said head coach Tom Giovatto on tonight’s win.  

 

“I felt we did well in the midfield, keeping the ball. We strung together a bunch of passes, kept the ball, kept possession through a big number of key sequences especially in the second half. It’s essential to do that (keep the ball) when you have a lead; I thought we did that extremely well. We have a lot of work to do, we’re not quite where we need to be, but it’s a good result and a good starting point. We need to keep working and continue to get better,” Giovatto added. 

 

UP NEXT:

The Terriers are back in action on Monday, August 27, when they travel to Long Island to take on Stony Brook at 7 p.m.