Lehigh plays to 1-1 draw against No. 22 California
September 9, 2011
BERKELEY, Calif. – The Lehigh men’s soccer team kicked off its first trip to the west coast in program history by playing to a 1-1 draw vs. No. 22 California on Friday in the CAL Legacy Classic. Down at halftime, the Mountain Hawks came out and scored the equalizer just 29 seconds into the second half thanks to a goal by sophomore James Meyerkord while sophomore keeper Ciaran Nugent had a career-high eight saves.
"It’s always hard when you travel as far as you do and then have to get ready for a game in 24 hours, but for our guys to compete as well as they did against a very good team was a real positive," said head coach Dean Koski. "I was pleased with how they came back and this was a very good performance for us."
Lehigh (1-1-2) had 13 shots with six shots on goal while Cal (1-1-2) had 19 shots with nine shots on goal. There were a lot of chances in the game for both sides especially late as both schools were looking for the game winner. In the final 10 minutes of regulation there was a flurry of action as Nugent made two saves off shots my John Fitzpatrick in the 85th minute and Michael Munoz in the 90th minute. Senior Ayo Olasupo got a shot on the goal in the 80th minute which was followed by a shot by freshman Ali Famili in the 82nd minute and senior Kevin Strunk took a shot that went wide in the 86th minute.
Cal got on the board first with a goal in the 30th minute by Tony Salciccia, his first of the season. Ryan Neil crossed to Salciccia who fired from around 28 yards out as the ball ricocheted off the post and in. But Lehigh came out of the second half and senior Joe Puleo got a shot that was blocked as Meyerkord was there for the rebound at the top of the box for his first goal of the season as Puleo picked up his first assist of the year.
While the Mountain Hawks were aggressive in trying to find the game-winning goal at the end of regulation, they were unable to get a shot off in the overtimes. Cal got two shots off in the extra periods and had 11 corner kicks for the game as Nugent and Lehigh’s backs did a great job thwarting California’s attack.
"Keeran was solid in goal for us and our backs did a very good job in critical moments to make sure we got the ball out of there," said Koski. "It was an ebb and flow kind of game where they would put pressure on us and we would counter."
While both teams were trading shots, they were also trading some pushing and shoving as the game was physical throughout. The team combined for 32 fouls (17 for Cal, 16 for Lehigh) and nine yellow cards (4 for Cal, 5 for Lehigh). As it got closer to the end, the game got more chippy as four of Lehigh’s five cards came in the two overtimes.
"It was a little bit chippy and I think the refs were making sure that when the players were getting tired at the end that the game didn’t get out of control," said Koski. "I think we lost a little discipline but the guys did a good job of getting it back and getting the result."
Lehigh’s last result against a ranked opponent came last year when the Mountain Hawks fell to then-No.4 Maryland 3-0. But the year before, Lehigh defeated then-No. 24 College of Charleston 3-2 at the Ulrich Sports Complex.
Cal is not only ranked No. 22 by the NSCAA, but No. 13 by College Soccer News, No. 15 by Soccer America and No. 35 by TopDrawSoccer.com.
Cal was ranked as high as No. 7 by the NSCAA this season.
"Cal is a very good team and I thought we put together good two halves of soccer," said Koski. "I think they took a big step in the right direction and in doing so they know what they are capable of doing as a group. We will build off today’s effort and performance and that’s a huge positive for us, but now we can’t have any letdown going forward."
Lehigh will take the pitch to finish its west coast swing when it travels to take on Stanford on Sunday at 6:30 p.m. as part of the CAL Legacy Classic. Stanford is coming off a 3-1 win against No. 15 Kentucky on Friday night.
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