#16/19 Men's Soccer Stumbles at #12/17 Emory in Key UAA Clash
10/28/07
Despite a spirited second-half comeback, the New York University men's soccer team dropped a 4-2 decision to Emory University in a battle of nationally ranked University Athletic Association (UAA) rivals Sunday afternoon in Atlanta.
Ranked #16 in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)/adidas National Rankings and #19 in the d3kicks.com Top-25 Poll, the Violets (12-4-1, 3-3 UAA) saw their four-game winning streak halted. Meanwhile, the Eagles (15-2-0, 5-1-0 UAA), ranked #12 by d3kicks.com and #17 by the NSCAA/adidas, improved to 15-2-3 all-time against NYU.
Emory started swiftly, staking itself to a 3-0 lead through the first 26:16. Patrick McFarland and Joey Howie each contributed two assists during the Eagles' opening surge as Marc Del Marmol (9:27), Alex Diego (16:43) and Andre Jakubowski (26:16) helped their team take a three-goal advantage into intermission.
However, NYU answered at 48:45 when junior forward Adam Dhanens buried a feed from junior midfielder Robert Keller for his seventh score, cutting the Violet deficit to 3-1. Junior forward Branden Neal tickled the twine at 82:32, his sixth goal of the year, to pull NYU within 3-2 and give the Violets hope of at least forcing extra time.
After the Violets failed to capitalize upon a corner kick by freshman midfielder Anthony Tumbiolo at 86:34, the Eagles pushed forward and got a goal from McFarland, off an assist by Erik Laney, to cap the scoring.
Junior Chris Wright made five stops for NYU, while Emory's Keith Meehan compiled the same save total.
Emory owned a 12-11 edge on shots, while NYU held a 6-3 advantage on corner kicks.
NYU closes out its regular-season and UAA slate Saturday, Nov. 3, when it travels to Waltham, MA, to face Brandeis University at 11:00 a.m.