Posted: Sep 10, 2014
The Golden Lions dropped the opening game of the 2014 season at Bergen Community College by a final of 3-1.
With a starting 11 featuring only two returning players from last year, RVCC saw Bergen control most of the early play as the Golden Lions repeatedly gave the ball away and were forced to scramble to keep Bergen off the scoreboard. Having faced nationally ranked opponents in two of their first three matches this season, Bergen was comfortable keeping possession and should have been ahead early when RV suffered a breakdown in marking a corner kick but were let off when a wide open Bulldog headed wide of goal.
RV wasn't so lucky later in the half when Bergen converted another turnover into a scoring opportunity, this time finding the back of the net past Ryan Lauder for a 1-0 lead. The Golden Lions ended the first half trailing only 1-0 despite failing to register a single shot on goal.
The second half started better for the Lions with Jhaliyl Stewart running onto a ball forcing Bergen's goalkeeper into a strong save just inside the penalty area. Unforced errors continued to plague RVCC, Ryan Lauder had to make several saves but a 2nd goal seemed inevitable, BCC crashing a shot just under the bar to go ahead 2-0. The home side increased their lead to 3-0 after another bad turnover on the right side allowed Bergen to race into the penalty area unopposed, Andrew Williams was whistled for a foul and Bergen converted the resulting spot kick off Lauder's hand for a 3-0 lead.
The third goal seemed to give RV a much needed wake up and they immediately changed the pace and tide of the game. The Golden Lions began to string together several passes and carve out opportunities to get back into the game. Jon Fischer provided a constant threat on the right wing and Bergen's defense repeatedly fouled Erick Hernandez, Jhaliyl Stewart and Tristan Gadson-Rigby to keep them from putting the Golden Lions on the scoreboard. The breakthrough finally came late in the second half when a Shubhi Oberoi free kick was headed in by Andrew Williams to cut the deficit to 3-1. Ryan Lauder was called upon to make another key 1v1 save before Tony Chaparro fizzed a low shot just wide of the post which would have cut the score to 3-2.
"It was a disappointing start to the season, we'd have liked to come away with a better result but I was very pleased with the effort over the final 25 minutes" said Men's Head Coach Gerry Montague. "We were our own worst enemy today, we gave away goals with mistakes which shouldn't happen at the college level. We showed we can play with anyone in the region but can't wait til we're 3-0 down to do it. We're looking forward to our next game on Saturday, I think we'll be a very different team."
The Golden Lions (0-1-0 overall, 0-1-0 conference) travel to Cumberland County College for their next match on Saturday, September 13th, kickoff is scheduled for 1:30pm.