By: Laura Chapman
Assistant Sports Information Director
chapmal@juniata.edu • juniatasports.net
Photo: Cat Scholl
HUNTINGDON, Pa. – The Juniata College men's soccer team won its home opener against Mount Aloysius College today, by a final score of 3-0. The Eagles tallied three goals from three different players and recorded their fourth shutout of the season. Juniata is now 5-0 on the year and off to its best start in program history.
"It felt great being at home," said head coach Dan Dubois. "The guys were really excited. During warm up, they said it felt weird after being on the road for two weeks – almost three if you include preseason. They were excited to get out in front of their friends and family out on our field."
The Mounties opened the game by pressuring the Juniata defense deep in its own end of the field. But the Eagles responded in kind and were able to jump ahead quickly. Freshman Aaron Kulig (Green Lane, Pa./Boyertown) notched his fourth goal in five games. He played a quick series of passes off a corner kick with sophomore Dylan Thompson (Broomfield, Colo./Peak to Peak Charter) and then ripped a shot from outside the penalty box for the first goal of the game.
"Aaron is an opportunist," stated Dubois. "He doesn't need to be pushed too hard to take a chance. When he sees an opportunity he's always ready to take it. He's really good at what he does, finding that one spot to make a difference, and he's been doing really well with it."
The first half continued with the two teams trading possession and long balls until freshman Dani Meyer-Arrivillaga (Durham, N.C./Carolina Friends) put Juniata up 2-0 in the 43rd minute. Senior Andy Blunk (State College, Pa./State College) collected a cross at the edge of the penalty box and centered back in front of the Mount Aloysius goal. Meyer-Arrivialla was there to redirect the ball into the far corner for the score.
"You could tell that we had the first-home-game jitters," said Dubois. "We didn't really settle into our game until the second half. But we managed to rely on some good individual play to get a lead early. Some of it really had to do with their pressure. We had a pretty good scout on them and we knew they were going to be athletic and how they were going to attack us. We knew how we needed to play to have a good result and we did not play that way early. We were trying to play their game."
Mount Aloysius attempted to mount a number of attacks in the weighing minutes of the first half, but the Eagles defense, led by seniors Seth Ruggiero (Bangor, Pa./Bangor) and Anthony Glossner (Centre Hall, Pa./Penns Valley), and junior Nick Weit (Lititz, Pa./Warwick), held the Mounties to just five shots in the first half, none of which were on goal.
"Some of the guys had to make great defensive plays to break some things up," said Dubois. "We can do that, the guys are good enough to do that, but we try not to rely on that. We want to make sure that our system is working to cut off as many opportunities early. Today we had to rely on Seth and Nick and Anthony to pick some stuff up at the last moment when we put ourselves in bad positions."
The Eagles continued to mount the pressure from the start of the second half when junior Nick Weit (Lititz, Pa./Warwick) added a third goal just two minutes after the whistle. Weit stepped up to a free kick and buried the ball just under the cross bar from almost 25 yards out for the third goal of the match.
"The second half the guys played great," said Dubois. "At halftime we talked about how I don't care what the score on the scoreboard says, I want to dominate on the field. That's what we did. We went out and stuck to the game plan. We stayed away from the long ball, kept the ball on the ground, maintained possession, and directed possession."
Juniata held the Mounties to just two shot in the second half and freshman Blaine Barsch (Englewood, Colo./Cherry Creek) came up with one save. Barsch was strong in goal for the full 90 minutes and registered his second shut out of the season – fourth overall for the team.
"Blaine is doing very well," stated Dubois. "One thing that he was missing when he came in was the communication with the back line. He has really tried to improve on that and he's done a very good job with that. His decision-making has come along."
The Eagles next play at home in a double header with the Juniata women's team. Both squads will face King's College (Pa.) this Saturday, Sept. 14th. The women open the day at 1 pm with the men's match to follow at 3:30 pm.
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