Last Saturday, Emerson men’s soccer fought hard, but ultimately returned home with a scoreless draw against the Salve Regina Seahawks.
Despite not reaching their ideal outcome, all was not lost for the Lions, as they came out of the match with their first point in the NEWMAC standings this season. Head Coach Liam McKersie said that in a NEWMAC game, he is happy with a draw.
“I would say not conceding goals is always a positive, so we don’t want to overlook that,” said McKersie.
Emerson has had an up-and-down season thus far, now standing at a 3-3-3 record. There have been games where offensive moves were strong, and others where the defense took the lead. Moving forward, McKersie says he is looking to develop a strategy for the Lions that includes both good offensive and defensive moves.
“We’ve had a bit of a roller coaster [season] so far, we’ve had some really high highs, we’ve got some really low lows,” said McKersie. “I think for us, we want to find a balanced, well-rounded performance.”
Despite the lack of points, both teams played an energetic game, which led to a match full of fouls and intense defensive plays. This led to minimal offensive opportunities, with the first shot of the match not occurring until a third of the way through the first half.
The Seahawks had the upper hand over the Lions on offense, especially in the second half. In the end, Salve Regina outshot the Lions 9-1 and also had the edge in corner kicks, with a 3-1 advantage. Junior midfielder Zac Osmond had the only shot for Emerson in the contest..
The Lions’ defense stood especially strong in the second half, with only five shots being recorded between the two teams and only three corner kicks. But despite the pressure, neither team found the back of the net, and only four of the 10 shots in the contest were on goal, all from Salve Regina.
“I think we leave a little bit frustrated knowing that we could have performed better and could have done a lot of things better on the field, especially in the attacking phase,” said McKersie.
The tension between the teams was strong as each became more desperate to score a goal. Several fouls and warnings were issued, in particular against Emerson, which garnered some choice words from the bleachers. The tension may have arisen due to Salve Regina’s status in the NEWMAC, having been in the final last year. The Lions lost to the Seahawks last season by a score of 2-1. McKersie said that in games like this, “there’s a lot on the line.”
A yellow card was also issued against the Seahawks after one of their players shoved graduate defender Dominic Reiter. The incident only added more tension between the teams and on the bleachers. Despite any possibility of hard feelings, McKersie says the focus is always on the game.
“For us, we have to be able to perform at the highest level without letting that distract us,” said McKersie.
There was a good showing of friends and family for both teams, which led to several animated reactions from the sidelines when the shots toward the goals got close. There was a lot of love from the bleachers toward first year goalkeeper Asa Roberts, who made four saves to earn his second clean sheet of the season. These saves garnered a proper amount of cheers from Lion supporters and disappointed sighs from Salve Regina.
As of Tuesday, Sept. 30, the Lions will be on the road for three games, with the first one taking place at Westfield State to take on the Owls at 7 p.m.
