by Logan Tyler
The men’s soccer team traveled down south to play Greensboro College on Wednesday September 14. Due to weather postponing their September 11 game against Methodist University, the men had not played since their loss to the Catholic University of America on September 8. However, the Maroons traveled to Pride Field looking to add a win to their schedule. The Maroons fell behind in the first half with a goal in the 18th minute by Collin Thomas, a freshman for the Pride. The score remained 1-0 for the rest of the first half as Roanoke looked to regroup at halftime.
“We struggled at halftime to figure out what we needed to do,” Fifth-year senior goalkeeper Zach Behe said. “But we knew we needed to come out strong in the second half.”
They came into the second half motivated with the Maroons capitalizing in the 49th minute with a goal from sophomore Harrison Kraus to tie up the game. The match proved to be an intense competition with one yellow card being allocated to the Maroons in the first half, and four yellow cards in the second half – three for the Pride, one for the Maroons. Will Fatzinger, a freshman for the Maroons, received his second yellow in the 60th minute, adding up to a red card, and he was sent to the sidelines for the rest of the match. With thirty minutes remaining in the match, Roanoke was forced to play a man down for the remainder of the game. However, the men proved they were up for the challenge despite their uneven numbers with an unassisted goal from sophomore forward Girom Affolter in the 67th minute to put the Maroons ahead, 2-1. At the final whistle, the score remained the same, with Roanoke coming out on top to put their record at 2-1-1.
“We went down a man in the second half and we did well to score immediately after getting the red card,” Behe said. “Then we grinded out a defensive win for the last thirty minutes to come away with a big road win despite being a man down.”
With the confidence of their big win, the Maroons look ahead to their upcoming Family Weekend match against Virginia Wesleyan in hopes of getting another win under their belt.
