By: Laura Chapman
Assistant Sports Information Director
chapmal@juniata.edu • juniatasports.net
Photo: Jennifer Jones
HUNTINGDON, Pa. – After a slow first half, the Juniata College men's soccer team fought back hard to earn a 1-1 draw against Landmark Conference opponent Goucher College. The Eagles improved to 8-2-2 overall and 1-0-1 in league play.
"We started off on a bad foot by not having any energy," said head coach Dan Dubois. "Coming off a 10-day layoff it wasn't necessarily unexpected. We started to turn it around toward the end of the first half. We put a little more energy into it and got ourselves to halftime only down 1-0. In the second half we made the tactical decisions that we needed to make and the guys bought in 100 percent. We did a lot of good things, put in a lot of good work, and did some great things in the second half."
The Gophers outshot Juniata 10-4 in the first period, but the Eagles came back and fired more shots than Goucher in the net 65 minutes. The Gophers got on the board first off a header in the 17th minute and put the Eagles on their heels quickly.
"The game played out the way almost every Landmark Conference game does," said Dubois. "Nobody really dominated on the scoreboard. One team will have possession for a while and maybe make something out of it or maybe not. Then the other team will have a good amount of possession. That's the way all Landmark games go for men's soccer because it's just so competitive. The guys knew that going in. Since the last time we've played, Goucher has had two competitive matches and they were much sharper than we were to start the match. Hopefully this will kick-start our season again. Hopefully this will put the intelligence, which was there, back together with the work ethic we picked up in the second half."
Juniata found the equalizer in the 71st minute when freshman Aaron Kulig (Green Lane, Pa./Boyertown) finished a header from junior Nick Stone-Weiss (North Olmsted, Ohio/North Olmsted) with a header of his own. The tally marked Kulig's fifth score of the year.
"Aaron's goal came from pure hustle," said Dubois. "It was a good flick on from Nick and a good flick from Aaron who was making a great run. Good recognition of what was going on around him."
Ten minutes later, Juniata looked to have the go-ahead goal when freshman Dani Meyer-Arrivillaga (Durham, N.C./Carolina Friends) found space in front of the net and blasted a shot near post. Goucher goalkeeper Nicholas Stolarz made a fantastic save from point blank range to keep the game knotted at one all. For the Eagles, freshman goalkeeper Blaine Barsch (Englewood, Colo./Cherry Creek) had to contend with nine Goucher corner kicks and was equal to every one.
"Blaine played a great game today," said Dubois. "The goal that we gave up was one where they got into the right spot in the right time and flicked it past him. But everything else; he was quick off his line to get the ball out of the air early. He was strong in the air. He got hit a few times and managed to hang onto the ball the whole time. He made good decisions with the ball. He made good decisions on when to come out and when to stay back. He was a big reason why we were able to tie that game. He kept us in it."
Both teams earned a number of chances, with the Eagles outshooting the Gophers 10-7, but no one found the game winner as the two teams left the pitch with a tie. Juniata goes on the road for its final non-conference game of the regular season against Pitt-Greensburg on Tuesday.
"I'm very confident in the team," said Dubois. "The team is very confident in itself. We just have to go out and get to work. Having the time off and getting everyone healthy, those are great things, but I'd much rather be in competitive games all the time. You can't fake that energy. You can't find it. It doesn't just happen. You have to be in those competitive situations for it to happen. Getting back to playing mid-week games and weekend games every week is going to be a really good thing for us going forward."
The Eagles next return home Saturday, Nov. 2, at 3:30 p.m. in the second half of a double header with the women's team against Drew University.
Follow Your Eagles! Stay up-to-date on your Juniata College Eagles by following us on twitter (@JuniataEagles) and on Facebook (Juniata Eagles).
