Men's Soccer Drops Colgate, Earns Victory in Home Opener

The fan presence at Berman field was certainly rewarded as the Red upset Colgate in its home opener last night.
Despite a scoreless first half, the bleachers were full of vocal support and enthusiastic fans who were rewarded when sophomore Matt Bouraee put the Red on the scoreboard with a shot launched from about 30 yards out.
“Coach Scales called that one,” said senior tri-captain Jarid Siegel. “At half, he told us that someone would score a goal from far out — whether it would be us or them was the question.”
For Bouraee, he said that his practice paid off.
“After I got past the defender, I had space for another 10 yards,” Bouraee said. “I had two seconds to line up and shoot. I like to take a lot of distance shots at practice — but it’s definitely better to have it count for something in a game.”
“He’s got a knack for distance,” said senior tri-captain Aaron Vieira.
The Red’s second goal came off shot by freshman Brett Sumpio deflected by Colgate’s keeper. Senior Brian Kuritzky collected the ball and fired a shot into the top of the net bringing the crowd to its feet.
“It was great having so much fan support out tonight — it really got the team excited and motivated,” Bouraee said. “We wanted everybody who came out to support us to be glad that they came, and want to come out again.”
Last year, the Red suffered a tough loss at Colgate and the team refused to let it happen again this year. Colgate, won an early season tournament a few weeks ago, promised a formidable challenge for the Red.
“We were definitely anxious about playing Colgate, but I feel like we really came out against them physically and kept the pressure on the whole game,” said senior tri-captain Aaron Vieira. “The entire team worked really hard and it was a total team effort.”
“This is the first time we’ve beaten Colgate since I’ve been on the team,” said senior Brian Kuritzky. “Hopefully this trend continues.”
The team focused on maintaining a high level of intensity and pressure regardless of score, remaining time, or any other factors.
“After the first goal we knew we had to keep the energy level up high,” Bouraee said. “We didn’t slow down or give them any easy chances.”
Vieira agreed and emphasized how every player had an impressive performance.
“The defense was very solid and [junior] Luca [Cerretani] had a great game in goal,” Vieira said. “Kuritzky had some impressive shots and was able to hit the target multiple times. It was nice to get our attackers scoring goals; they have become a lot more threatening. [Junior] Joe Yonga worked very hard and had an amazing game today, too.”
Vieira could easily have continued to list every player on the team.
With less than ten minutes to go, however, the Colgate team scored off of a penalty kick and brought the score closer at 2-1.
The Red regrouped and was able to keep the ball in Colgate’s defensive end while the clock ticked away.
Some dedicated fans stuck around after the final horn to give the team a round of applause for home win.