Persistence Pays Off in 2-0 Men's Soccer Win Over Princeton
Sept. 7, 2007
WASHINGTON - The American University men's soccer team peppered 26 shots at Princeton and Eagles goalkeeper Chris Sedlak (Valrico, Fla./Bloomingdale) earned his 10th career shutout in a 2-0 win over the Tigers Friday at Reeves Field.
The Eagles persistence paid off in the first period, although not without some frustrations. AU fired 10 shots at the Princeton goal, two of which were saved by Tiger keeper Joe Walter. Another shot, by freshman Jamie Davin (Manlius, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius) hit the crossbar. However, in the 32nd minutes, freshman Daniel Shannon (Frederick, Md./Tuscarora) scored his first career goal to open the scoring. Again, persistence was the key for Shannon, who had his initial shot blocked by a defender before firing a low shot under the defender and past the goalkeeper to the left side.
AU received a boost early in the second half when officials called a Princeton player for a red card after taking down AU's Tremaine Chinapoo (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) on a breakaway.
With Princeton forced to continue down a man, the Eagles continued their onslaught of shots. AU fired 12 shots in the second period, and while Walter made a career-high 11 saves, the Eagles relentless attack eventually got to the Tigers. It looked as if American would go up 2-0 when Nick Kapus (Burke, Va./Robinson) chipped a shot past Walter to the far right side of the net, but a Princeton defender stepped into net and deflected the shot away.
However, just 33 seconds later, AU was at it again. This time, after a corner kick by JP Kuykendall (Fairfax, Va./Madison) bounced off a defender to Chinapoo, Chinapoo passed to Kuykendall who threaded a nifty cross through the empty backside of the net to Mike Worden (Silver Spring, Md./Montgomery Blair), who tipped the pass in for his first career goal.
Sedlak made just three saves, but added several daring pickoffs of crossing passes, to earn his first shutout of the season and the 10th of his career.
American returns to action Sunday at 1 p.m. when it hosts Bowling Green. Tickets are $5 for adults, $3 for youths ages 2-17 and free for children under two and students with AU ID. If you are unable to attend, listen to the game on Eagles All*Access. Subscriptions are available by clicking here.
