Men's Soccer Falls 3-2 at St. Francis (Pa.)

(boxscore)

10/15/06 -- The Long Island University men’s soccer team suffered its second straight Northeast Conference road loss, falling 3-2 at the hands of Saint Francis (Pa.). After the Red Flash built a three-goal lead, the Blackbirds scored a pair of goals but could not find the back of the net for a third time.

Freshman Frank Alesci (Ridgewood, N.Y.) and sophomore Josh Merchant (New Orleans, La.) each tallied goals for Long Island (3-10-1, 1-4-1).

Saint Francis (6-5-3, 3-0-2 NEC) got on the board in the seventh minute when Aaron Clapham scored the first of his two goals. Clapham scored from five yards out off a cross. He would later score on a pentitley kick in the 29th minute. Scott Thompson scored the Red Flash’s second goal on a shot from the top right corner of the box.

But the Blackbirds didn’t give up, and controlled much of the action the rest of the way. They were able to get on the board a few minutes after the pentitley kick when freshman Ryan Williams (Brooklyn, N.Y.) passed to Alesci, who put the ball into the lower left corner of the net from 14 yards out to cut the lead to 3-1 at 33:58.

Long Island was able to crack the SFU defense again when Alesci assisted on a goal by Merchant at 70:25 to make it 3-2. Merchant shot from 12 yards out, putting the ball into the lower right corner.

Both teams had their share of chances down the stretch. Clapham and Thompson both had good chances stopped by Blackbirds goalkeeper Jeremy Wimer (Shreveport, La.) in the second half. Saint Francis goalie Brad Williams made three saves. The Blackbirds were outshot 11-9.

Long Island returns home to host Monmouth on Friday, Oct. 20 at 4:00 p.m.