VMI men drop 4-0 decision to Robert Morris: In the final game of the 2014 Jay Sculley Memorial Tournament, the Virginia Military Institute men’s soccer team had chances early in each half, but the Colonials of Robert Morris University struck twice in each stanza to top VMI 4-0 in non-conference action at Patchin Field on Sunday.
Robert Morris’ Neco Brett finished with five points on two goals and one assist while Devon Williams had three points with one goal and one assist. Bruce Cullen added two helpers to his scoring line while Corey McCurdy accounted for the Colonials’ fifth assist. Jared Latchford also tallied a goal for Robert Morris.
In the first-ever meeting between the programs, VMI’s Alex Guerra made five saves but took the loss. Added to his save total was a penalty kick attempted by Brett, followed by a rebound shot from Latchford. Colonial keeper Brenden Alfery took the win in 74 minutes of work, making six saves before he was spelled by Winter Fondi for the final 16 minutes.
VMI (1-4-0) wasn’t without its chances as nine of the Keydets’ 14 shots were on goal, including a pair from Travis Borkey off the bench. Borkey challenged Alfery in the first 30 seconds of the second half after slipping past his defender and sizing up the Robert Morris keeper.
The Colonials (2-2-1) out-shot VMI 19-14 in the contest, including 12 attempts in the second half. Brett was the leading shooter with five attempts, four of which were on goal. Cullen also took five chances but just one was on goal as Latchford put both of his shots on frame.
VMI earned seven corner kicks during the game, with four coming in the second half. Robert Morris had four, taking a pair in each half. The Keydets committed 12 fouls in the game while three players were booked with yellow cards. Robert Morris was whistled eight times.
Robert Morris, which fell to Liberty University 2-1 in overtime in the first game of the Tournament on Friday, got on the board early as Williams found the back of the cage in the 10th minute. He and Brett worked a give-and-go at the top of the box to connect for the first goal of the game.
Half an hour later, Cullen and Latchford connected with the former ripping a shot that was initially stopped by Guerra, but the ensuing rebound was collected by Latchford and pushed over the line to put the Colonials up 2-0 at the break.
Twelve minutes into the second stanza, Brett scored the first of his two goals as Williams connected a pass to Cullen, who found Brett waiting at the top of the box to put Robert Morris up 3-0. Williams and Cullen were credited with assists on the play.
The final play of the afternoon came in the 71st minute as Brett received a long pass up the middle from McCurdy. Brett slipped around his defender before depositing a shot in the back of the net.
Early in the afternoon, Liberty topped usc Upstate 3-1 to see the Flames go 2-0-0 during the 2014 Jay Sculley Memorial Tournament. Liberty remained unbeaten this season thanks to goals from Khalil Karl and Ernest Siaw, with what proved to be the game-winning goal, Liberty’s second, coming on an own goal by the Spartans. usc Upstate got a tally from Joe Brinckwirth in the 30th minute to cut the Flames’ lead in half, but Siaw scored an insurance goal just five minutes into the second half.
VMI is idle for nearly a week as the Keydets await Howard University next Saturday. Action on Sept. 21 is set for 2 p.m. at Patchin Field to round out a three-game homestand for the Keydets, the team’s longest such stretch since the middle of the 2012 season.
Bonnies shut out VMI women: The match was scoreless for the first 73:40 on a day that saw the VMI Keydets post their highest shot total of the year, but the St. Bonaventure Bonnies scored two late goals to prevail, 2-0, in the third game of the women’s soccer Big Red Shootout, hosted by Cornell in Ithaca, N.Y.
The Bonnies (3-4-1) struck in the 74th minute. After several deflections off Keydet (1-5) defenders, Danielle Vis settled the ball and beat VMI keeper Emily Marbury from 18 yards out to give SBU a lead it would not relinquish. The Bonnies added a 90th-minute goal with the Keydets down a player, due to an 80th-minute red card.
The game saw the Keydets post 13 shots, a season-high, while SBU held a 28-13 edge in that statistic. The Bonnies had a 12-2 edge in corner kicks, while VMI’s two keepers, Marbury and Kirsten Hancock, combined for 11 saves to three for SBU goalie Christina Sarokon.
The Keydets had two of the first three shots Sunday, including a Kristen Whitehurst try in the fifth minute that was stopped by Sarokon. SBU rallied with back to back shots on goal, but Hancock stopped Vis in the sixth minute and Abby Maiello in the 11th to keep the match scoreless.
The Bonnies continued to pressure the Keydet goal, but Hancock was up to the task in the 21st minute and again in the 26th, stopping tries to keep SBU off the board. The Keydets counterattacked in the 40th minute, but an Alex Frank shot was high, as was a Killian Buckley attempt in the 43rd as the match went to the half tied, 0-0.
Hancock remained in to start the second half and turned aside two more SBU tries, doing so at 46:21 and 51:38. The Keydets built another offensive rally in the 57th minute, but Nicole Blixt was turned aside by Sarokon and then missed wide two minutes later. Emily Adams then misfired on two shot attempts and Marbury entered in goal for VMI in the 63rd minute.
Blixt missed wide at 65:57 and SBU regained offensive control shortly thereafter. Marbury made stops at 68:48, 69:34 and 70:38, and the match was still scoreless. After a corner kick, Marbury turned aside Vis at 71:03 to keep it 0-0, but could not do so two minutes later as SBU took the 1-0 lead.
VMI came back in the 80th minute with a Myranda Emery try on goal that was saved, and shortly thereafter, Keydet Lizzy Cotter was assessed a red card. VMI was still able to get two additional shots off, but could not score and the Bonnies saw Reilly Dougherty score on a 90th minute header to account for the final margin.
VMI women’s soccer will return to action Friday, as the Keydets play host to Radford at Patchin Field. Action gets underway at 4 p.m.
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