Rocky Start to the Season for the Men’s Soccer Team

The Frostburg State men’s soccer team fell to the Catholic University Cardinals 0-1 last Friday night as they kicked off the season in tournament play. The Bobcats were ranked fifth in the preseason Capital Athletic Conference poll going into the game. Both teams showed strong defense in the first half of the game, denying each other of scoring chances. Finally, in the 59^th minute of the game, Bobcat goalkeeper Hassan Mostafa was beaten by Catholic junior Patrick Morgan on a header goal. The Bobcats continued to bring pressure on Catholic, recording many scoring opportunities late in the second half and outshooting the visiting team 16-12.  Ultimately, however, the Bobcats were plagued by late offside calls and failed to score anything past Senior Catholic goalkeeper Zachery Tashjy.

The Bobcats found greater success on the tournament’s second day with a blowout win over Saint Vincent, lead by Josh Mcrobie’s three goals. His score in the 20th minute was the first of the game, and the freshman’s first career goal as a Frostburg State Bobcat. He quickly found the net for his second goal, and in the 51st minute of the game sealed a hat trick with his third score. Mcrobie was the first Bobcat since Nabayee Tesfu in 2014 to record a hat trick. The Bobcats put up two more goals scored by Junior Rodrigo Valenzuela and Sophomore Serigne Gueye. Frostburg outshot Saint Vincent by a staggering 23-4 margin on the way to a 5-0 final score. The decisive win gave Bobcat goalkeeper Hassan Mostafa his first shutout of the season and the Bobcats their first victory of the year.

While the Frostburg men were opening up their season, last weekend’s tournament also featured exciting action from the visiting teams. In the second game of the double header on the first day of tournament play, Alfred State took on Saint Vincent. Alfred State jumped to a big lead early, scoring three goals in the first half.  Bryan Whitbeck, John Mormino, and Markus Ernest each netted one score apiece. Saint Vincent put up a late push in the second half, but it was not enough, as Alfred State secured a 3-2 victory.

In the second and last day of tournament play, Catholic came away with their second win of the season, shutting out Alfred State 3-0, and outshooting the Pioneers 26-7. Catholic came out of the tournament 2-0, with both victories being shutouts.

Frostburg State resumed regular season play Wednesday night, but fell to the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays 0-2. The Bobcats competed stride for stride with the Blue Jays in the first half, presenting many opportunities to score throughout. Both teams showed solid goaltending for the entire game, but finally in the 57th minute of the game, Hopkins sophomore Arden Chew broke the tie with a header goal past Bobcat goalkeeper Hassan Mostafa. In the 89th minute, Johns Hopkins senior Sammy Ramadane added an insurance goal to seal the shutout victory for the Blue Jays. Frostburg was outshot 19-8, with 5 shots coming in the first half. The Bobcats hope to get their offense rolling as they head into tournament play in Pittsburgh on Saturday, Sept. 10 at 5:30 p.m. against Carnegie Mellon University and against Kenyon College on Sunday, September 11 at 3 p.m.