A wild week of matchups full of goals saw the Shippensburg University men’s soccer team win two of its three matches. The Raiders had their first taste of PSAC (Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference) competition, facing off against both Gannon University and Lock Haven University.

The team’s first match was against Holy Family University at home on a foggy Monday night. The team scored a season-high five goals in the contest, scoring three in a span of 10 minutes in the second half. 

Forward Cole Kropnick got back on the scoresheet after a two-game drought, scoring two goals to put him at six on the season. Every game in which Kropnick has scored has either ended in victory or in a draw for SU, while the games in which he was held without a goal all ended in defeat.

Kropnick also added two assists to his name, helping Colin Marks and Logan Koch find the back of the net. Jan Striewe rounded out the Raiders on the scoresheet with his second of the season off a header from a corner kick. Striewe led the Raiders with six goals last season.

Goalie Matt Harder was solid in net once again, making five saves, but he did allow two goals. Nevertheless, the Raiders travelled to Gannon to take on the Golden Knights four days later riding the momentum of their big win.

The Raiders’ opening PSAC match did not go as planned, even though the Raiders had a decent amount of pressure. The team could only muster two shots on goal, both of which were saved by Gannon’s keeper. 

While this was SU’s first PSAC match, Gannon was already on its third, entering the contest having defeated both of its PSAC opponents. After giving up an early goal in the 11th minute, Harder was solid in goal and kept the Knights at bay until they found another in the 74th minute. Harder made a total of eight saves, doing his best to give his team the chance to get back into the game.

After an offensive explosion followed by a shutout, the final match of the week against the Lock Haven Bald Eagles was a wildcard. The Eagles had a better overall record than the Raiders coming into the match and they were also undefeated in their first three PSAC ties. 

The extremely warm weather was not a helpful factor, with the referee needing to call for water breaks during both halves.

The SU squad that showed up was the offensive machine that played against Holy Family. The team exploded for another five goals, scoring three in just more than six minutes midway through the second half.

Midfielder Patrick Luebben produced in a big way, finishing with his first collegiate hat trick in the victory. 

He scored two goals from the penalty spot after Lock Haven was called for handball fouls in the box 20 minutes into each half and his third – the final goal of the match – came after some great passing between Kropnick, Alejandro Fernandez and Justin Chapuis.

Luebben is now second on the team with four goals on the season, followed closely by Striewe with three.

Luebben’s performance and recovery from an ankle injury suffered in the match against West Virgina Wesleyan, has been particularly impressive.

“He’s made fantastic progress,” SU head coach Jeremy Spering said. “He’s worked incredibly hard with the athletic trainers. It’s funny because he scored a hat trick, but I know, and he knows, that he’s not 100 percent match-fit yet.”

Following the trend, Kropnick added to his tally with his seventh goal of the season in the win, finishing off a beautiful low cross into the box by Jonathan Benner, who picked up his first collegiate point. Striewe was the other Raider goal-scorer, heading the ball into the net after a free kick by Marks hit Jamie Blair’s head, and found an open Striewe in the box for the simple finish. 

The Raiders were unable to keep the clean sheet despite the constant offensive pressure throughout the game, with Harder being called into action several times on dangerous Lock Haven attacks. 

The Eagles got one back with eight minutes left in the match directly off a free kick just outside the box, with Lock Haven’s Ben Wilson curling a shot past Harder. Only 47 seconds later, however, Luebben responded with his third. 

Harder was otherwise solid on the day, making five saves and doing his job whenever called upon. 

Spering was very pleased with the team’s overall effort in Sunday’s win. 

“I thought we made the most of our chances. The opportunities we got, we buried,” he said. “This team has really shown the ability to be efficient and bag goals. Hopefully we can continue that because you get into the PSAC and that’s very, very hard to do. Every game is decided by one goal, two goals tops.”

The Raiders will be back in action tomorrow at home against East Stroudsburg University at 4:30 p.m. in another conference matchup.

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