PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – Despite outshooting Skidmore College, 18-15, the Plattsburgh State men's soccer team fell, 3-0, to the Thoroughbreds in its 2017 home opener at the Field House Complex Tuesday evening in non-conference action.
Plattsburgh State also finished with a 4-1 advantage in corner kicks, while the Thoroughbreds committed 20 fouls to the Cardinals' 14. The difference in the contest mostly rested on the talents of Skidmore's senior forward Augustine Okoye, who scored two goals and assisted on a third.
The Cardinals drop to 2-1 overall with the loss and open up the Best Western Plus-Ground Round Cardinal Classic at the Field House Complex on Saturday, Sept. 9, at 12 p.m. against Mount Saint Mary College. The Thoroughbreds rise to 2-0 overall with the win and visit SUNY Geneseo on Saturday, Sept. 9, at 6 p.m.
After a mostly uneventful start to the game, Okoye helped put Skidmore on the scoreboard in the 36th minute, using fancy footwork to deke out two Cardinal defenders. His swift right-footed strike was his second of the year, and it opened up what ended up being a prolific day for the senior striker.
Okoye nearly netted his second goal of the game in the 50th minute, as a Cardinal foul inside the 18-yard box resulted in an Okoye penalty kick. Sophomore goalkeeper
Patrick Feeley (Harriman, N.Y./Monroe-Woodbury) denied the chance, and Plattsburgh State set up a quick counterattack off a goal kick. Plattsburgh State's best chance to score during the contest came when junior forward
Alex Price (Plattsburgh, N.Y./Beekmantown) chipped the Thoroughbred keeper on that counterattack, but the ball sailed just right of the goal.
Skidmore took a 2-0 lead in the 74th minute when Okoye scored his second marker of the contest. He fed sophomore midfielder Dario Flores, who then gave it back to Okoye at the corner of the 18-yard box. Okoye slipped a low shot inside the far post to earn redemption from the missed penalty kick.
The visitors put the game on ice in the 83rd minute when sophomore forward Kyle Barrett curved a shot from the left side of the 18-yard box into the goal off a pass from Okoye.
Price and junior forward
Chris Robertson (Thiells, N.Y./St. Joseph Regional [N.J.]) paced the Cardinals with five shots each.
Feeley made five saves in the loss for Plattsburgh State, while Skidmore's sophomore goalkeeper Sebastian Bosch posted his second clean sheet of the season, making four stops.
