WEST CHESTER, Pa. — In a down-to-the-wire finish with heavy implications on the PSAC East standings, the East Stroudsburg men's soccer team defeated West Chester 1-0 on Wednesday afternoon.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Golden Rams had the first couple of chances of the match, earning the first three corner kicks and taking the first shot of the day. West Chester carried the ball down field, and Owen Slack took a shot on the first touch, placing it a ball too high as it hit the crossbar and went out of bounds.
- East Stroudsburg's best chance of the first half came in the 27th minute, as Ethan Flickinger had possession down the left side. Flickinger continued to dribble into space towards the net and tried fitting a pass across the box to Ryan Kiernan, but Alexi Amanatidis came out of his net to stop that chance.
- The Warriors came out of halftime applying full pressure to West Chester to try and break the scoreless tie. Darryl Longdon had the best chance for East Stroudsburg, receiving a cross in the middle of the box for a header that went just over the crossbar in the 49th minute.
- In the 67th minute, East Stroudsburg was awarded a free kick well outside the box along the right side of the field. Nathan Bradway lined up for the kick and sent a curving pass that drifted left into the box, where Flickinger timed his run to bury a header in the bottom right corner of the net and put the Warriors ahead 1-0.
- Despite a good amount of possession and pressure throughout the match, West Chester managed only one shot on goal. With 13 minutes remaining, Slack took a shot just outside the box that was easily stopped by Sykes for his lone save of the day.
- East Stroudsburg pressed ahead for an insurance goal late in the game and had another free kick on West Chester's side of midfield with under four minutes remaining. Bradway took the corner again, this time finding Kiernan who was nearly able to place a header in the top right corner with his back turned to the net, but Amanatidis punched it out of bounds.
GAME NOTES
- Bradway's assist moves him into a five-way tie for first on the team in the category with two on the season.
- East Stroudsburg led in shots (15-12) and shots on goal (4-1), but West Chester held the advantage in corner kicks (6-2).
- The Warriors' 12 shots in the second half tied the most shots in a half for ESU this season, previously hitting that mark in the second half against Shippensburg on Oct. 11.
UP NEXT
ESU now owns a 7-5-2 overall record and has earned 10 points in PSAC play with a 3-2-1 record. Next on the schedule is Shepherd at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 25 at Eiler-Martin Stadium for the team's senior day celebration.
