Sept. 26, 2006

Box Score

KINGSTON, R.I. -

 In its first home game since September 3rd, the Rhode Island men's soccer team recorded a 2-1 win over Harvard on Tuesday night, September 26. The Rams grabbed the lead in the final minutes of the first half, on a goal by sophomore Kedan Crosby (St. James, Trinidad), and never looked back as they went on to post their first home victory of the season.

Rhode Island was dominant throughout the first half, holding a 4-0 corner kick advantage and limiting the Crimson to just one shot on goal. Midway through the half though, URI was charged with a foul just outside the box. Harvard's Tom Stapleton took the free kick and blasted a shot that bounced around in the upper left corner, ricocheting off the crossbar, the post and URI goalkeeper Mark Sauter (Columbus, Ohio), but never crossing the goal line. URI responded with a charge of its own and almost took the lead seconds later when senior Jeffrey Gonsalves (Markham, Ontario) sent a shot just wide of the open net. Finally, with 2:16 remaining in the half, Crosby netted the game's first goal when sent a loose rebound ball past Harvard's Adam Hahn for a 1-0 Rhody advantage heading into the break.

The Rams carried the momentum into the second half and went up, 2-0, at the 60:13 mark when junior Geoffrey Cameron (Attleboro, Mass.) fed the ball to junior Lukasz Tumicz (Bisztynek, Poland), who made a long run down the left side of the field before moving in on Hahn and netting what proved to be the game-winning goal. For Tumicz, the tally was his second game-winner on the season, while Cameron now leads the Rams with three assists.

Harvard continued to battle though, and chipped away at the Rhody lead with nine minutes remaining in regulation. Andre Akpan, the Crimson's leading assister, managed to find Charles Altchek through a mass of URI defenders. Altchek beat Sauter to the loose ball and tapped it into the back of the net for Harvard's only goal of the game.

In all, URI outshot Harvard, 19-10, and also out-cornered the Crimson by a 7-2 margin. Sauter made three saves for the Rams while Hahn made nine stops for Harvard.