Oct. 31, 2010

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - The La Salle men's soccer team extended an unbeaten streak to four, playing Massachusetts to a 1-1 tie in double overtime and picking up a point toward the postseason race. The tie puts the Explorers at 6-6-3 (4-2-1 Atlantic 10) while the Minutemen are now 5-4-7 (4-1-2 Atlantic 10).

Jeff Pio (Warminster, PA/William Tennent) put the Explorers on the board first, garnering a first half goal in the 37th minute. He blasted in a rebound into the lower right corner of the net on a Ryan Richter (Southampton, PA/William Tennent) shot.

UMass tied things up in the 78th minute when Bryant Craft took a shot from 15 yards out on a goalkeeper punt from Chris Piekos.

Defense was the name of the game on Sunday as the two squads mustered just two goals on 46 combined shots. The Explorer defense was spectacular, particularly in the second half when the Minutemen attempted 16 shots while holding the Explorers to just five.

After two quick UMass shots to open the game - both of which were saved by John McCarthy (Cinnaminson, NJ/Northeast Catholic) - the Explorers settled in. They took their first shot of the game at 21:57 and quickly got off three more, and eventually outshot the home team 8-6 in the first stanza.

Both squads had a handful of chances in the overtime periods, but McCarthy and Piekos picked up the saves to preserve the tie.

McCarthy was once again strong in goal, stopping eight UMass shots. Piekos picked up four saves in the effort. The Minutemen outshot the Explorers 27-19 and held a 12-6 advantage on corner kicks.

With the tie, the Explorers picked up a point to remain in the hunt for a berth in the Atlantic 10 Championship. The A-10's are set for Nov. 11-14 at Charlotte's Transamerica Field.

The Explorers return to action next weekend when they return home to host Xavier on Friday (11/5) at 3:00 PM and Dayton on Sunday (11/7) at 1:00 PM.