KEENE, N.H. 9/4/11 – Extended to double-overtime yesterday, the Keene State College men's soccer team had little in its tank on Sunday, falling behind early and dropping a 5-0 non-conference game to Brandeis University in the second day of the XARA Classic/Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Tournament at Owl Athletic Complex.

After going into double-overtime to defeat the College of New Jersey 1-0 on Saturday, the Owls (1-1) lost their first game of the season.

The Judges, who scored a combined 10 goals and posted back-to-back 5-0 shutouts over Fitchburg State and KSC in the Classic, improves to 2-0.

Brandeis got on the board just five minutes into the game when sophomore Kyle Feather walked in and deposited the ball past KSC sophomore goalie Malcolm Cheney (Hopkinton, Mass.).

Cheney kept it a one goal game when he came out of the net and stopped a shot by senior Luke Teece (Tucson, Ariz.) at the 7:38 mark.  Later in the half, junior Joe Eisenbies (Hingham, Mass.) and Teece let go drives that just missed the crossbar. However, the Judges wouldn't be denied. With 42 seconds remaining in the half, senior Alexander Farr (Nahant, Mass.) stole the ball in the right corner and bent the ball into the far corner of the net from an amazing angle to give Brandeis a 2-0 halftime lead. 

Keene State Coach Ron Butcher said the bad-angle goal was a back-breaker.  "That goal broke out back," he said.  "Most of our guys were just spent from yesterday and it showed.  But give Brandeis a lot of credit.  They had a good scouting report on us. They executed and we didn't' today.  The guys are embarrassed about the results and that's a good thing. Hopefully, we'll learn from a game like this."  

KSC, which had just nine shots on goal in the two games, had a rare scoring opportunity at the 33:52 mark of the second half.  Freshman Kaleb Lique-Natove (Keene, N.H.) had a drive from the right side, but Brandeis junior goalie Blake Minchoff (Fiskdale, Mass.) came across and made the save. Minchoff finished the game with five saves.

The Judges added to their lead a minute later when junior Sam Ocel (North Attleboro, Mass.) chipped a shot past Cheney, who had come off his line.  Feather made it 4-0 at the 24:30 mark of the half when he converted a crossing ball from Teece.

Cheney had the save of the game with 17 minutes to play. The sophomore skied and tipped a blast by freshman Foti Andreo (Lynn, Mass.) over the crossbar.  Eisenbies scored the final goal for the Judges with a one-timer with 16:45 to play. 

Cheney played the first 73:17 and had four saves.  Seeing his first collegiate action, freshman Michael Ketterman (Monson, Mass.) plated the final 16:43 and was credited with one save.

Brandeis outshot the Owls 16-9 while both teams had five corner kicks.

It was the first meeting between the two teams since the 1998 season.

Keene State hosts Springfield College on Wednesday (6:30 p.m.). 

KEENE STATE XARA MEN'S SOCCER TOURNAMENT –DAY #2

LIONS DEFEAT FITCHBURG STATE 4-1

KEENE, N.H. 9/4/11 – The College of New Jersey scored two goals in each half en route to a 4-1 victory over Fitchburg State College in the XARA Classic/making Strides Against Breast Cancer Tournament at Owl Athletic Complex.

TCNJ (1-1), which lost to host Keene State College 1-0 in double-overtime on Saturday, notch its first win of the season.  Fitchburg State, which dropped a first-day game to Brandeis 5-0, falls to 0-2.

The College of New Jersey bombarded the Fitchburg State College net with multiple quality shots before finally cashing in with two first half goals. Sophomore Sean Casey (Toms River, N.J.) set in senior Luigi Morielo (Ewing, N.J.) who scored to give the Lions a 1-0 lead at the 27:17 mark.  Senior Michael Recchia (Wayside, N.J.) made it a 2-0 game at the 12:48 mark when he converted a crossing ball from senior Dan Constants (Wayne, N.J.).

The Lions added two more goals in the second half. Set up in front by Constants, senior Chris Pisano (Metuchen, N.J.) found the back of the net to make it 3-0.  Junior Taylor Gregory (Sea Girt, N.J.) put the ball in the net from the left side extending TCNJ's lead to 4-0.

After Falcon sophomore Carmen Bordonaro (Saugus, Mass.) was taken down in the box, senior Danny Bolam (East Fairfield, Vt.) scored on a penalty kick to get Fitchburg State on the board.

The Lions had a wide advantage in shots 33-9 and corner kicks 9-1.

Junior Aaron Utman (Hopewell, N.J.) and junior Adam Friedman (Chester, N.J.) each played a half in goal for TCNJ.  Each finished the game with one save.

Freshman Aidan Hanratty (East Bridgewater, Mass.) had a busy day in goal for the Falcons, stopping 11 shots. 

All-Tournament Team

Goalie

Blake Minchoff (Brandeis)

Backs

Blake Nyman (Keene State)

David McCoy (Brandeis)

Midfielders

Joe Eisenbeis (Brandeis)

Waisi Frank (Fitchburg State)

Forwards

Alexander Farr (Brandeis)

Luigi Moriello (TCNJ)