Frostburg, Md. – Penn State Harrisburg played their first official CAC match Wednesday on the road against the Frostburg St. Bobcats. Unfortunately, an early goal helped to push the tide in favor of the home squad on way to what would be an extremely hard fought conference match up.
After some back and forth play to start the match, Frostburg State's Pablo Torrano separated his team single handily by scoring two unassisted goals in the first half of play. The Bobcats early scores came in the 7th and 37th minute of the first half.
Harrisburg did not quit and continued to play their limited touch, quick ball movement style of play throughout the second half. The Lions worked it well today, but struggled to do anything threatening in the final third of play as they looked to create scoring opportunities.
As the Blue and White pushed up to try and make the comeback as the game's final whistle drew near, the Bobcats snuck in a counter attack for a third goal putting the game away.
Despite the tough loss, Junior captain Mike Jones (Harrisburg, Pa. / Central Dauphin) continued to show his strength and leadership playing central defender. He was almost impossible to beat 1v1 and also helped to cover the big and strong forwards and midfielders the Bobcats threw at the back line today. He was assisted by the help of newcomer Colby Brown (Harrisburg, Pa. / Central Dauphin) who is doing more than his fair share as a freshman starting defender.
Freshman Jonathan Vanaskie (Shamokin, Pa. / Shamokin Area) had the best chance of the night for Harrisburg offensively in the final two minutes. He outran the visiting goalkeeper to catch a through ball just outside the 18 yard box; his shot just missed the open net as the Bobcat GK missed the ball and ran into Vanaskie instead disrupting the attempt.
Harrisburg started five freshmen compared to Frostburg's lineup that included eight seniors. This should be a good sign of things to come as Harrisburg continues to compete in tight matches against some of the best teams in the Northeast.
"I am very proud of the boys work rate and effort; we learned some tough lessons, but should be just fine as we continue to improve" head coach Seamus Donnelly was quoted following the match.
The Lions don't get an easy follow up game as they will remain on the road Saturday against a very strong Salisbury University squad.