Box Score

In a season-opening battle of squads that each reached the NCAA Division III Championship last season, the New York University men's soccer team fell 1-0 to preseason #13 Stevens Institute of Technology on Friday, September 2, in Hoboken, NJ.

In a game reminiscent of last season's opener, when Stevens beat NYU 1-0 in overtime, the Ducks (1-0) prevailed in a back-and-forth contest by scoring with under 14 minutes to play in regulation. Zach Bowman netted the goal, chipping a low cross from Edward Rupp past charging Violet goalkeeper Jonah Poster in the 77th minute.

“Obviously, nobody likes to lose,” said NYU head coach Joe Behan. “However, our performance tonight was good. I'm very pleased with the number of players that came off the bench and did well. Our substitutes really turned the game around on Stevens.”

With many of those substitutes in, the Violets (0-1) nearly were the ones to take a late one-goal advantage. But a cross played into the box by Kyle Green to a wide-open Daniel Low was a touch too low, and Low's attempted header sailed wide. On the ensuing counter, Stevens found the back of the net.

“Daniel Low just missed with that header,” commented Behan. “What's important is that miss came after we were really pressuring Stevens.”

NYU also pressured Stevens early in the game, producing a great scoring chance in the 11th minute. David DeLooper, a starter in his first collegiate game, played a through ball to Green, who chipped it over the defense to a streaking Chris Ramirez. But Ramirez couldn't get everything on a left-footed touch, and goalkeeper Paul Killian made the save.

DeLooper nearly had a goal of his own in the 15th minute. After Niki Chow's hard strike on a free kick from 25 yards out was saved, the loose rebound came to DeLooper in front, but his attempt was blocked by a defender.

The Ducks had several great chances of their own in a back-and-forth, physical battle, finishing with 14 shots to the Violets' 10. But Poster, making his second career start between the pipes, came up with six saves, including a diving stop to his left on the first shot of the contest.

Late in the game, Dan Marino, a freshman goalkeeper, came in for his first collegiate action. In all, eight Violets made their NYU debuts: Marino, DeLooper, Nimo Freitag Bergstroem, Billy Cordova, Mac Yumoto, Daniel Low, Mickey Ingerman, and Anthony Baini.

“I'm very happy with how the newcomers played,” noted Behan. “They did very, very well.”

The Violets return to action on Sunday for another road contest against a team in the preseason national rankings, at #25 Montclair State University. Game time is scheduled for 2:00 pm.