READING, Pa. – The Albright Lions men's soccer team fell behind 3-0 before dropping a 4-2 MAC Commonwealth contest to Alvernia on a chilly Saturday afternoon at Shirk Stadium.
With the loss, the Lions conclude the 2018 season with a 4-11-2 record and a 1-6-1 record in MAC Commonwealth play. Meanwhile, the Golden Wolves conclude the 2018 regular season at 8-10-2 and 4-4 as they set their sights on their MAC Commonwealth Tournament play-in game versus Stevenson on Tuesday.
The first shot was not recorded in the game until the ninth minute when freshman
Billy Hanratty made some nice moves to create a good scoring chance, but had his shot tipped high of the net by the Golden Wolves goalkeeper. Alvernia then got on the board in the 15
th minute following a bounce from midfield that left Ryan Kuster behind the Lions defense to score. The Golden Wolves then almost extended their lead in the 31
st minute when a shot off a free kick was saved by Lions junior goalkeeper
Billy Mullen. Mullen then would make another shot off a direct free kick to keep the deficit at one at halftime.
The Lions came inches from tying the game at one in the 53
rd minute when senior
Jared Leckburg received a free kick in the box, but had the ball poked high by the Golden Wolves keeper. The game went quiet for 20 minutes before the Golden Wolves extended their lead to 2-0 in the 74
th minute. Alvernia then made it 3-0 in the 79
th minute on a goal that was collected after Mullen made an initial save. Leckburg continued the rush of goals a minute later when he tucked the ball near post under the Golden Wolves keeper from the right wing. 1:18 later, the Golden Wolves put the lead back to three at 4-1 following a penalty kick goal. The Lions then got a penalty kick goal of their own from senior
Miles Williams to make it 4-2 which ended up being the final. There were five goals scored in the final 17 minutes of the game.
Each team tallied 10 goals in the contest with the Golden Wolves holding a slight 8-7 advantage in shots on goal. Both teams also had five corner kicks as well. Mullen made four saves in the full 90 minutes and was saddled with the loss. Alvernia goalkeeper Nate Nimo earned the win after making five saves in the full 90 minutes.
