BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Moravian College men's soccer team fell to Juniata College 2-1 on Saturday afternoon on the HUB Quad in Landmark Conference action after allowing a two-goal comeback in the second half.
Freshman forward Saul Marcial put the Greyhounds (7-6-2, 0-4) ahead 1-0 in the 16th minute when he took a through ball from sophomore midfielder Brett Harder and scored his seventh goal of the season with a commanding finish.
Moravian took the lead into the intermission, but Juniata came out gunning for an equalizer in the second half. The Eagles (11-2-2, 2-0-1) took six straight shots in the first 15 minutes of the second before breaking through with a goal in the 66th minute to tie the score at 1-1. Juniata took the lead nine minutes later and held on for the victory.
"We played pretty well for the first 30 minutes of the game," said head coach Todd Ervin, "but after that our energy dropped and we weren't able to pick it back up as high as it was in the first half. In those 30 minutes, we dominated the game. We should have been able to keep that up and I'm disappointed that we couldn't."
Despite the loss, the Greyhounds took solace in the fact that it was one of those games where a bounce of the ball could have changed the fate of both teams on Saturday. Senior forward Jeffrey Algor had the first chance at the opening score in the 10th minute when his shot shook the goal frame after rocketing off the crossbar. Junior midfielder Chris Gomez also had a shot that was denied by the pipes, clipping the right post in the second half.
"It could have been, should have been, but wasn't," Ervin said. "I knew the final score wasn't going to be 1-0. We played hard and we played pretty well, but ultimately, we need to be able to sustain a high level of play for a longer amount of time in order to find more success."
The Greyhounds held a slight advantage in shots, 14-13, with Marcial leading the way with four. Sophomore midfielder Seth Reynolds put both of his shots on goal, while Harder and Algor both put shots on target for Moravian.
Sophomore goalkeeper Brian Boland came up with four saves in the loss.
Moravian has three matches remaining this season, all against Landmark Conference opponents, and the Greyhounds will need to win out to make the postseason. They will begin that quest on Tuesday, Oct. 22 at The University of Scranton at 3:30 p.m. before taking a trip to The United States Merchant Marine Academy on Saturday, Oct. 26 at noon.
The 2013 slate concludes with a match against Goucher College on the HUB Quad on Saturday, Nov. 2 at 3:30 p.m.
