CABRINI ATHLETIC DEPARTMENTCabrini College men’s soccer team played their neighbors at Eastern University on Saturday, Oct. 20. The game resulted in a 4-0 win for Eastern due to an eventful second half. The Cabrini Cavaliers are still 15-3 in their overall season and 6-2 in Pennsylvania Athletic Conference matches.
The game started out to be favoring Eastern, as they kept the ball in front of Cabrini’s goal for the most part. Cabrini had some break aways which did not result in any goals. Nearing the end of the first half, a pass by Eastern’s Lance Burris put the ball in easy scoring position for Cliff Gehret, who turned the game into a 1-0 lead for Eastern.
With only a one point match, both teams came back from half time and struggled for the second goal. After 12 minutes, a second goal was earned for Eastern University by Aaron Tritch who got hold of the ball off the goalie and scored. At 2-0 the game started shifting heavily onto the Cabrini side.
Within five minutes of the goal by Tritch, Gehret scored his second goal of the game, and the third for Eastern, against Cabrini goalkeeper sophomore Bryan Johnson, who tallied up three saves in his 68 minutes of play.
Cabrini switched goalkeepers in the last minutes of the game, taking out Johnson for junior Colin Hinklemon who in the ending 20 minutes of the game let one goal slip by from Eastern’s Scott Patrick.
Eastern improved their record with a win making them 10-4-1 overall and 5-1-1 in the PAC league.
Eastern coach Dan Mouw said “We played an outstanding first half against Cabrini on Saturday. Our players really respect the rivalry and know that Cabrini is going to battle in every game,” in regards to playing the rivalry match between the two teams. Team play was very strong and important in the first half for both teams but Eastern managed to get the upper hand allowing them to enter the second half with a 1-0 lead.
“I thought we played well in the first half but fell apart in the second half. I didn’t think we were overmatched or anything, I just thought that they came to play and we didn’t,” sophomore Jason Moran said. “I also felt kind of embarrased since there were so many fans there and we didn’t play well but overall the loss isn’t the end of the world, we knew coming into the game that we would have to play them in a week no matter what in the first round of the playoffs.”
Both teams had strong support on the bleachers. The game was almost as easily accesible for the Eastern fans as it was for Cabrini students. Another game will be played against Cabrini and Eastern University in the playoffs.
Coach Mouw commented on the rivalry “understanding of the tradition and the rivalry between the two schools gave us good preparation for the game,” noting the importance of understanding in order to win.
