Men's Soccer Prepares for Last Game of Season

The GSU Men's Soccer team's woes continued at the end of October with a 2-0 defeat by George Mason and a 4-0 loss to William & Mary and two more key players lost to injury.

George Mason was a tough opponent, "one of the top teams I saw in the conference," Coach Kerem Daser said. At halftime, the Panthers were already down 2-0. In the second half, three GSU strikers upfront put a good deal of pressure on George Mason, but in the end the Panthers couldn't seal the deal. George Mason's defense was tough to break down, and some key scoring opportunities weren't capitalized on.

Some bright spots from the loss were the continued excellent play by Eduardo Liza. Felipe Carvalho was solid in goal. Coach Kerem was impressed by his goalkeeper's continued consistency between the pipes.

Coach K also gave kudos to his rivals, saying George Mason was, "the fastest, most athletic team we've seen all year."

Last Wednesday, the Panthers hit the road and paid a call on CAA leaders William & Mary. W&M are not only the dominant power in the conference, they are also the 35th best team in the country according to their RPI, short for Rating Percentage Index.

The Panthers fell behind in the first half 1-0, but had a chance to even things up just before halftime. Stephan Minyono made an excellent pass to junior defenseman Brett Cummins, who then made a breakaway. Unfortunately, his short sailed to the left of the goal.

The disappointing first half was compounded by the loss of the top two Panther defenders; sophomore midfielder Joe Costaldo and up-and-coming freshman defenseman Christopher Peacos had to leave the game due to injury in the first.

"It was hard to play without them," Coach Kerem said.

Things didn't get any better in the second half. There were very few opportunities to score, and the Panther's ball handling got sloppy.

"We gave the ball away too many times," Coach Kerem said.

William & Mary took full advantage of the Panther miscues, and piled on three more goals before the end of the game, leaving the final tally at 4-0 in favor of W&M.

Coach Kerem says his team's main problem at this time is scoring goals. Three of the last four games have been shutout losses, and the Panthers have not scored more than one goal since October 8. Injuries have no doubt been an issue, but Coach Kerem refused to make excuses for his team's poor offensive showings lately.

"We need to be hungry in front of the goal," Coach said.

The Panthers have two more chances to improve their sagging offense at home this year. On November 1st, Towson comes to Panthersville for Senior Day. Kerem hopes a strong offensive performance will give the departing Panthers something to remember.

GSU students' last chance to see their Men's Soccer team at home this year is on Friday at 3:00 p.m. against Delaware. As usual, admission is free to all GSU students with a valid student ID. Coach Kerem hopes the loyal Panther fans will give their full support for the last home game of the year.