After losing in a heart-breaking, double-overtime game against the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown on Wednesday, the Shippensburg University men’s soccer team got back on track with a 4–2 win over Salem International on Saturday.
The team was in a slight rut, losing two games in a row to Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) teams.
SU had won its first three games of the season before hitting this rough spell. Salem had not started its season very well, coming into the game against SU with a 1–3 record. SU had all the momentum in the early stages of the game, constantly pressuring Salem.
The first goal of the game came in the 14th minute, when SU was awarded a free kick and found Jamie Blair in the box who headed the ball into the net for the Shippensburg lead.
Ten minutes later, SU received one of its five corner kicks of the game, and Colten Arnold found Jan Striewe, who knocked the ball home for a 2-0 lead.
Salem got one goal back in the 60th minute after some great buildup play, as Fabricio Costa pounced on a loose ball in the box and put it in the net. Less than five minutes later, the Raiders were awarded a penalty kick after the Tigers’ Danny Carnalla committed a foul in the box. Patrick Luebben stepped up to the spot and buried the penalty to give SU a 3–1 lead with only 25 minutes to go.
It only took five minutes for Salem to be awarded a penalty of its own when Blair was called for a handball foul in the box.
Emilio Marti converted the penalty for his third goal of the season and trimmed the lead down to 3-2.
That would be as close as Salem would get, however. Jake Shefsky scored to make it a 4–2 game for SU, virtually sealing the victory with only 10 minutes left. SU now stands at 4–2 on the season.
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