POUGHKEEPSIE — Trailing 2-0 in Wednesday afternoon’s match, the Purple Eagles scored a late tally in the 88th minute to move within one. Niagara was unable to find an equalizing goal, falling to the Marist Red Foxes by a score of 2-1.
Adel Rahman scored the first goal of his Niagara career in the 88th minute, and Mackenzie Roach and Shiquan Lowe assisted on the goal. Roach became the first Purple Eagle to score in consecutive matches this season, with an assist in each of his last two outings.
Marist earned the game’s first three shots in the opening four minutes, the third of which was converted into the first goal of the evening. Samad Bounthong’s corner kick eventually found its way to Bruce Jeter, who beat Niagara’s Steve Casey to give Marist the 1-0 lead. Niagara’s best chance of the first half came in the 28th minute, as Josh Tufino was set up with a shot off of Konrad Zydowicz’s corner kick, but the shot was blocked by the Marist defense. After being outshot 10-1 in the first half, Niagara held a 9-5 edge in the second half as the Purple Eagles made a strong push to get back in the game.
Navid Rahman had a pair of strong scoring chances early in the second half. A long shot from Sergio Lujan was turned away in the 61st minute, and Marist came back and scored on its next possession. Niagara’s defense did a great job to block a shot from Marist’s Bounthong in the 65th minute, but the Red Foxes regained possession and Simon Lund Jorgenson doubled the lead to 2-0 just before the 66-minute mark. After the second Marist goal, Niagara outshot Marist 5-0 over the closing 24 minutes of regulation. Mbongeni Tshuma had a close shot stopped by the Red Foxes’ Ryan Sinnott, and Shiquan Lowe ripped a long shot from the far right side of the field off the crossbar just over Sinnott’s outstretched hand. Right at the 88-minute mark, it was Adel Rahman who got Niagara on the board with his first career goal. Shiquan Lowe fed a pass wide to Mackenzie Roach on the right wing. Roach beat his defender wide and fed Rahman in the box 10 yards from the goal. Rahman beat Sinnott low and away to the left side, making it a 2-1 game.
Niagara jockeyed for possession off the ensuing play, but could not find another shot to tie the game.
Head coach Bill Boyle said, “We can’t continually concede early goals and expect to win games. I think we did not respond well to that in the early minutes, but we came out strong in the second half. As a young team, we need to learn that we can’t turn it on and off; the game demands 90 minutes. I will give the team credit though, we never quit, and there is a bright future with that personality.”
Niagara has two more games in the 2016 regular season, both of which will be played at Niagara Field. The Purple Eagles host the Manhattan Jaspers Saturday at 1 p.m. before wrapping up the regular season against the Canisius Golden Griffins on Nov. 2 at 7 p.m. The annual Battle of the Bridge match will also be Senior Night, and the team will honor Fabrizio Chiari, Shiquan Lowe, and Konrad Zydowicz prior to kickoff.
from PurpleEagles.com via IFTTT
