St. Joe’s men’s soccer falls to Manhattan University
The St. Joe’s men’s soccer team started their weekend with a 2-0 loss at Manhattan University on Sept. 15. A late push from the Jaspers was enough to sink the Hawks who were coming off a historic outing against Navy, beating them for the first time in program history.
“We know that we can play with a lot of good programs,” Head Coach Don D’Ambra said. “We’re doing a lot more good than bad this year. We didn’t have our best game today so we just have to make sure we get back to doing what works well for us and playing the way we’re capable of playing.”
With the Saturday night loss, St. Joe’s sits at 4-3 on the season, which is enough for fourth place in the Atlantic 10. Manhattan outshot the Hawks 17-7 and freshman goalkeeper Joe Boehm made two big saves in the first half before Manhattan found the back of the net twice in the second half.
The freshman took a veteran mindset looking at the week as a whole.
“Tonight probably wasn’t one of our better performances but I think going forward we’ll look to build more off of the Navy game,” Boehm said. “Defensively we’re bought in and we’re getting in the right mindset and obviously tonight just may have been an off night.”
Redshirt junior captain Mike Fornaro, who anchored the defense in the 2-0 shutout over Navy, also looked to focus on the positive takeaways from the week.
“We’re still a pretty young team, so a lot of it’s a learning curve, figuring things out heading into the A-10,” Fornaro said. “We’re happy with how things are going. We can’t hold our heads down, we just have to keep working and move onto next week.”
Manhattan scored first on a free kick before scoring another breakaway goal for insurance, which D’Ambra said “took the wind out of our sails a little bit.” Fornaro however, looked at it as a lesson in composure and resiliency.
“For us it’s learning to deal with adversity,” Fornaro said. “You can never get too high, you can never get too low. In sports you’re going to win games maybe you shouldn’t have and you’re going to lose games you thought you should’ve won. We have to keep moving forward with it and attack each week like it’s a new week.”
The Hawks will undoubtedly be excited for this week, as they return to Sweeney Field, where they are undefeated this year.
“The guys love playing at home, playing in front of the crowd,” D’Ambra said.
The players agreed that there is something special about playing on Hawk Hill.
“We’re looking forward to coming home, getting the support of the home crowd,” Boehm said. “Playing in front of your school and in front of your friends and family, it amps you up in a way that going on the road can’t do. We want to get another nice win under our belt and hopefully we can do that with the help of our fans coming out.”
After their two hard-fought contests this week, the team will look to rebound against Virginia Military Institute on Sept. 19 before heading to Fairfield University on Sept. 22.
“That’s a game we’re really keying on winning,” Fornaro said. “Hopefully we keep that streak going at home and get a win going into the weekend.”
While the Hawks came out of the week 1-1, they learned a lot about themselves as a team.
“We were up two goals against Navy and down two goals tonight, but the team never said quit,” Boehm said. “I think that tells us something about ourselves and that shows a belief and a willingness to win and push forward. That’s something I love to see and would love to build off of.”
