The Fairfield and Army West Point men’s soccer teams fought with all of their might on Tuesday Sept. 22 with a final score of 1-1.
“I think that Army is a relentless team that doesn't stop working, which makes them a tough opponent. But we learned a lot from this game in that we need to start the game on the front foot,” midfielder Dominic Marshall '17 said.
The Black Knights came out strong in the beginning, making a goal within the first 10 minutes of the game. But the Stags ultimately took over the field as they were consistently getting the ball far on the opponent's side of the field and overall, did a better job of playing more offensively. This was a crucial adjustment that the team made after losing 3-2 to the Fordham Rams.
According to forward Steven Valente '18, "We wanted to get a win at home, but our strategy was really to fix some errors our team had in our last game before conference play."
The second half became more aggressive than the first half for the Stags as the one goal from Army and all of the support from the fans fired them up to push themselves even harder.
By far, the highlight of the game was the impressive corner kick made by midfielder Jonathan Uy '18 to the left side that lead to Marshall '17 executing a successful header to the upper corner of the goal to make the Stag's mark. “It's always a great feeling to score a goal for the team. I just gambled in the box and Uy put in a great cross which I got on the end of,” Marshall said.
While it was evident that both teams were even, the Stags had the upper hand in this game, gaining more possession of the ball and setting up various creative opportunities for goals, especially during overtime.
“We played Army last year and won, so our coaches gave our team the same game plan as last year which worked really well. The team came together and put Army on their heels, making them defend drive after drive of relentless pressure. That's one of Fairfield's biggest strengths,” Valente said.
The Stags' record in non-conference play is 1-2-4 and their next and first game in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference(MAAC) is Wednesday Sept. 30 away at Manhattan College against the Jaspers.
