Shannon KeoughCabrini College men’s and women’s soccer teams hosted the annual Cabrini College Soccer Festival on Friday Sept. 4 and Saturday Sept. 5 at the Edith Robb Dixon Field. The men stayed perfect in the tournament capturing their second straight title while the women went 1-1 on weekend.
“Winning the soccer festival this year was huge for our team mentally, especially after coming of a loss in our home opener,” Brian Raffle, senior business major, said.
The men kicked off the tournament against NYU – POLY and grabbed a 5-0 win, marking their first win of the 2009 season.
The Cavs saw eight different players score at least one point. Senior midfielder Andrew Jacobs, who led Cabrini on the day started off the scoring when he finished a kick across the box from senior midfielder Raffle.
This was followed up with a goal by freshman forward Ryan Juhring who scored off an assist by Jacobs. Senior midfielder Brian Moran was next to knock one in for the blue and white off of Jacobs second assist to put them up 3-0.
Raffle tallied Cabrini’s fourth goal of the day when sophomore back Kyle Johnson crossed the ball for the assist.
After over 65 minutes in the cage senior goalkeeper Bryan Johnson recorded his first shutout of the season without tallying a save on the game, while junior goalkeeper Mike Viscariello recorded one save.
Justin McCall ended the scoring at 5-0 with a breakaway goal off an assist from freshman midfielder Dan Foley. The men advanced for a rematch of last year’s championship with Alvernia University.
In the second game of the day the Cabrini women’s soccer team took on William Paterson University and came out with their first loss of the season with a 2-0 turnout.
“We deserved to win in this game but it just wasn’t in the cards for us,” senior communication major Sabina DeGisi said.
Junior goalkeeper Gianna Porretta held the William Paterson Pioneers to a scoreless first half and ended the day with nine saves.
Senior back DeGisi led the team with three shots on goal.
William Paterson’s sophomore Heidi Rogers and sophomore forward Sophie Hart-Ruderman each scored a goal in the contest.
The Pioneers out-shot the Cavs 23-5 on the day.
The women went on to win their second game of the Festival with a score of 4-2 against Delaware University. DeGisi fueled the Cavs with a hat trick giving them a 2-1 record on the season.
“We used the anger and disappointment we had from our loss to William Paterson to help get us prepared to get a win against Delaware Valley,” DeGisi said.
DeGisi started off the Cabrini scoring early in the game as she knocked one in the cage just inside the box. She had the only goal in the first half and added two more in the final period.
Freshman Maddy Edwards scored the fourth goal for Cabrini and recorded four shots on goal along with classmate Dana Drake.
“We went out as a team and played our game,” freshman undecided major Maddy Edwards said. “We played very well for just being on the field together for 3 games. This season looks promising.”
Headed into halftime the Cavs held a 1-0 advantage over Del Val. In the second half the Aggies evened out the scoring at 1-1. Cabrini gained the lead back shortly after when Edwards found the back of the net when she recovered a loss ball in front of the goal.
This was followed by DeGisi’s second goal to give the Cavs a 3-1 lead. Shortly after this Delaware Valley cut the deficit again to just 1 with a 3-2 score. Cabrini got the winning goal of the game when Edwards assist DeGisi to complete the hat trick.
Cabrini ended the game out-shooting the Aggies 24-9 lead by DeGisi’s impressive 8 shots.
Poretta totaled four saves in the cage in trek to her second win of the season.
“After playing in the festival we got to see a lot of the good and a lot of the things that need to be fixed,” DeGisi said. “We have a lot of talent on our team from the seniors all the way down to the freshman and we are working hard to put all the pieces together to achieve our long term goal of winning the CSAC.”
The men’s soccer team took the field next where they won their second straight Festival title against Alvernia with a 3-0 shutout.
The Cavs scored all of their goals in the first half to capture their second win of the season improving their record to 2-1.
Senior goalkeeper Bryan Johnson recorded six saves recording his second shutout of the season.
Raffle got the first tally of the contest when he found the cage from 25-yards out. Just a short time after sophomore forwards Eric Collins assisted junior forward King Saah for his first goal of the season and gave the Cavs a two-goal advantage.
To put the Cavs up by three, sophomore back Kyle Johnson found senior midfielder Evan Hanauer’s for the 3-0 lead. The Cavs ended the weekend with two wins and a title.
“Beating Alvernia 3-0 for the festival championship definitely showed us what type of team we are, and what type of team we could be.” Raffle said.
