After tying in their previous two matches, the No. 17 ranked Rowan men’s soccer team was looking to walk away with their second win as they headed into play against No. 23 ranked SUNY Cortland. Unfortunately, the Profs ended their game with a 1-1 tie — the team’s fourth draw of the season and third in a row.
This tie now gives the Profs a record of 1-0-4 so far this season. Just like their game against the No. 7 ranked Johns Hopkins, which also ended in a 1-1 tie, the Profs got on the scoreboard with a goal in the first half of Wednesday’s game, but was the only goal they would score.
After three straight ties, Head Coach Scott Baker wants the team to get back to the level he knows they can play at.
“We need a completely new mentality. We are not playing at the level we can and we need to get there. We have played some good opponents, but we are not playing at the level it takes to achieve the goals that we set,” Baker said.
One of the things that Coach Baker wants to see an improvement on is the team’s offensive production. They have scored over two goals just once this season and are currently firing off roughly 14 shots a game.
“I say this after every game but we need to score more goals. Our only game that we have won was a game where we scored more than two goals and our ties have been two goals or less. This team has the skill to do it and I know it because I see it every day in practice.”
The Profs got on the board early with Jason Barragan’s first goal of the season, but the lead was short-lived as SUNY Cortland quickly answered back just 35 seconds later after a goal from Riley Williams.
Barragan shared his thoughts after the game.
“It was great to get the opportunity from the corner kick by Aidan [McGuigan]. And I think that we had the right mindset going into today’s game,” Barragan said. “We just didn’t execute how we would have liked. Cortland is a great team and they showed how great they are with the way they responded immediately right back.”
Just as the score would indicate, the offensives were pretty evenly matched, as Rowan had 11 shots over the course of the game with five of them being shots on goal, while SUNY Cortland had 12 shots with eight being shots on goal.
Senior midfielder and team captain Luke Yates talked about the outcome after the game.
“They were always a good team and they showed it today, and we have stuck in these close games,” Yates said. “It’s just a couple things that don’t go our way and the clock hits and that’s all we could have given out there on that field.”
This game on Wednesday was the second home game of the season for the Profs in which both teams couldn’t score after the initial strikes.
Goalkeeper Dylan Aportola talked about the goal from Williams and what needed to happen in that situation.
“That goal was something I should have prevented from happening, but we still had plenty of time to go and respond. At this point, we had tied four of our first five games, which is ridiculous, and I know we are better than this, and that’s what Coach Baker keeps telling us,” Aportola said. “He talks about the little adjustments we need to make in order to walk away with some wins over even the hard teams we have faced so far in Johns Hopkins, and Cortland and walking away with 1-1 ties.”
This third straight tie has kept Rowan in seventh place in the New Jersey Athletic Conference this season and with two more games to go before they start NJAC play, Rowan will look to get back into the winning column when they take on CCNY on Saturday, Sept. 16, at 5 p.m.
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