Army Tops Holy Cross, 2-1, In Conference Opener

Saturday, September 24

West Point, N.Y.

7:00 PM

Army West Point

4-5-0, 1-0-0PL

Holy Cross

0-6-2, 0-1-0PL

Holy Cross

Army

Army Tops Holy Cross, 2-1, In Conference Opener

September 24, 2011 | Men's Soccer

Box Score

Sept. 24, 2011

Box Score

Army-Holy Cross Box Score

Army vs. Holy Cross Recap

WEST POINT, N.Y. - Junior Trent Brown scored a goal and assisted on classmate Josh Koeppe's game-winning tally as the Army men's soccer team defeated Holy Cross, 2-1, in the Patriot League opener for both schools Saturday evening at Clinton Field.

Army, which has won back-to-back games for the second time this season, improves to 4-5-0 (1-0-0 PL). Holy Cross, meanwhile, remains winless on the season at 0-6-2 (0-1-0 PL). It marked Army's first Patriot League victory since the Black Knights defeated Navy, 1-0, in the 2008 season finale.

The Black Knights, who have now surpassed last season's win total, are off to their first 1-0-0 start in league play since the 2000 squad defeated Lafayette, 5-1, in its conference opener. Army's four wins are the most for the Black Knights since the 2007 team posted nine victories.

"I'm just happy for the boys," said Army head coach Russell Payne. "They found a way to be goal-dangerous, and that's what we've been working on and talking about. Obviously, the guys across the back did a great job defensively, but I thought we defended better as a team overall. There are still a few things defensively that we have to work out, but I was really happy with our effort and our ability to find a way to win the game.

"Conference competition is always going to be tough," added Payne. "It's not going to be pretty at times, but you have to find a way to take those moments, and we did that tonight. I'm happy for them."

The first half went back and forth with neither team truly able to take command of the contest. Army's first dangerous scoring opportunity came in the 17th minute when freshman Devin Perlee corralled a ball inside the penalty area and hit a low strike that was saved by Holy Cross goalkeeper Evan Polanik.

Perlee had another chance less than three minutes later, but his header from near the left post was handled by Polanik.

Army's pressure was rewarded just before halftime when Brown headed home a direct kick off the foot of freshman Tommy Jaeger. The Black Knights were awarded the set piece from 35 yards out following a Crusader foul. Jaeger then calmly served the ball into the box to Brown, who headed it past Polanik for his second marker of the season with just 52 seconds showing on the clock.

"It was a great ball by Tommy, and I just battled hard for it," said Brown. "It just came down to whoever wanted it the most, and I wanted it more than that guy at that point. It was a good feeling to score late in the half. We wanted to go into the locker room up a goal, so that meant a lot in terms of building momentum for the second half."

Army outshot Holy Cross by a 6-4 margin in the first half, but the Crusaders owned a 3-0 advantage in corner kicks.

The second half was hotly contest as well, with both teams registering quality scoring chances. Finally, in the 82nd minute, Koeppe took a feed from Brown, eluded a Holy Cross defender and ripped a rising shot from just outside the 18-yard line into the top right-hand corner of the cage to move Army in front, 2-0. It marked Koeppe's second goal of the season.

"I took the feed from Trent, came in with a lot of space and kind of faked outside," said Koeppe. "Then, I cut it back in and hit a little finesse shot right into the corner. It felt great. I knew it was going to go in as soon as it came off my foot."

Less than one minute later, Holy Cross made it 2-1 as Pat McCann scored off a broken play in front of the Army cage. Josh Cintas played a ball into the penalty area and McCann got off a shot that glanced off Army freshman goalkeeper John Marinelli and into the back of the net.

Holy Cross recorded three shots in the final three minutes of the contest, but the Crusaders came up empty. HC's best opportunity to knot the score came in the 89th minute when Kevin O'Connell got in behind the Army defense, but his redirected shot went just wide of the mark.

Marinelli (4-5-0) made three saves to pick up the win for Army. Polanik (0-2-0) stopped four shots for Holy Cross in the losing effort.

Army finished with a 16-12 advantage in shots, while Holy Cross ended up with a 6-4 edge in corner kicks. The match was physical throughout with a total of 26 fouls and five yellow cards being assessed.

Army will be idle until Saturday, Oct. 1, when the Black Knights travel to Annapolis, Md., to face service academy rival Navy in a key Patriot League tilt. Kickoff from the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility is slated for 7:30 p.m.

Match Notes: Army improves to 16-12-1 all-time versus Holy Cross ... today's win marked Army's first conference victory over a school other than Navy since the Black Knights defeated American, 3-2, in the 2006 season finale ... it was Army's first win over Holy Cross since 2006 (4-1) ... it was the Black Knights' first home victory over the Crusaders since 1997 (4-1) ... Army improves to 2-5-0 at home this season ... the Black Knights have scored two goals in consecutive matches for the first time since the start of the 2008 campaign ... Tommy Jaeger's assist was his second career helper ... Trent Brown's assist was the second of his career ... Brown's goal was the third of his career ... Brown now leads the team with six points (two goals, two assists) ... Josh Koeppe's goal was the second of his career ... John Marinelli lowered his goals-against average to 1.54 ... the start of today's game was delayed by approximately 10 minutes as the game officials had to change their shirts from blue to orange... it was determined that the blue shirts were too close in color to the Crusaders' purple jerseys ... a thick blanket of fog rolled in with about 20 minutes to play in the second half and settled in over Clinton Field for the duration of the match ... in other Patriot League action, American defeated Colgate, 3-0, Lehigh edged Bucknell in double overtime, 1-0, and Navy and Lafayette played to a 0-0 draw ... Army wore its alternate gold jerseys with white shorts and white socks for tonight's conference contest ... it marks the first time the Black Knights have donned their new jerseys.