Oct. 29, 2006

Box Score

KINGSTON, R.I. - The Rhode Island men's soccer team was handed a 3-1 loss by ninth-ranked Saint Louis on Senior Day at the URI Soccer Complex. Senior Jeffrey Gonsalves (Markham, Ontario) scored the Rams' only goal on a penalty kick in the second half. With the loss, Rhody dropped to 10-5-4 (7-2-0 A-10) while Saint Louis claimed the A-10 regular-season title with an 8-0-1 league record (12-3-2 A-10).

The Billikens wasted little time getting on the board as Casey Spiess tallied his fourth goal of the season at 14:21, sending a quick shot past freshman Chris Pennock (Middlesborough, England) and into the right corner of the net. With 3:08 left in the first half, Larry Geraghty notched his first goal of the season to give SLU a 2-0 lead heading into the break.

After a sluggish first half where URI was outshot (5-4) for just the second time in nine conference games, the Rams came back and controlled play through the majority of the next 45 minutes, outshooting the Billikens, 10-4. However, Dado Hamzagic put the game away at the 57:00 mark when he scored his third goal of the season off a pass from Speiss.

Gonsalves scored on a penalty kick at 76:46, recording his league-leading 16th goal of the season. For the remainder of the game, URI outshot SLU, 5-0, but the Rams were unable to tally again as one shot sailed over the net, two were blocked by defenders, one was pulled down by SLU's Ross Kaufman and Rhody's best chance bounced off the crossbar and then the post before being booted out of the goal area.

The Rams continued to battle though, and junior Steve Mellen (North Kingstown, R.I.) buried a pass from Gonsalves with just three seconds left on the clock. The goal, however, was waved off as the result of an offsides call against URI.

In all, Rhode Island outshot Saint Louis, 14-9, and held a 9-5 advantage in corner kicks.

The Rams finish the regular season second in the A-10 with a 7-2-0 league record, while the win today gave Saint Louis sole possession of the top spot with an 8-0-1 conference record.

The Rams (10-5-4, 7-2-0 A-10) are back in action next weekend at the Atlantic 10 Tournament at Charlotte's Transamerica Field. Entering the tournament as the #2 seed, Rhody receives a bye into the Semifinals and will face the highest seed remaining from Thursday's Quarterfinals games.

Log back onto www.GoRhody.com for additional tournament details as they become available.