CANISIUS COLLEGE ATHLETICS
Eddie Perez-Palaez tallied two first-half goals and Jacob Mittman added a goal and an assist in the second half to pace Bucknell to a 4-1 victory over Canisius in collegiate men’s soccer action Sunday at the Demske Sports Complex in downtown Buffalo.
Perez-Palaez staked the Bison (1-1-0) to a 1-0 advantage a little more than eight minutes into the contest when he used a through ball from Bernie Wright to get behind the Golden Griffins’ (0-1-0) defense before sliding the ball past keeper Tom Crosbie and into the lower right-hand corner of the net.
Perez-Palaez struck again in the 24th minute, heading a cross from Mo Tall into the center of the cage to double the Bucknell margin to 2-0.
Junior Manuele Cavazzoli nearly got Canisius on the board in the 35th minute, but his shot from 25 yards out hit the left post and remained in play.
In the second half, Patrick O’Hara extended the Bison lead to 3-0 at the 65:44 mark of the contest, placing Mittman’s feed into the lower left-hand corner of the net from the middle of the box.
Senior Troy Brady got the Griffs on the board in the 71st minute, converting on a penalty kick opportunity that was created when freshman Alessandro Fabiano was fouled in the box.
Mittman closed out the scoring less than 30 seconds after Brady’s tally, capitalizing on a Canisius turnover for his first of the campaign.
Emmett Witmer recorded six saves in goal for Bucknell while Crosbie finished with five saves between the pipes for Canisius.
Head Coach Dermot McGrane‘s Postgame Comments
“This was a very disappointing way for us to start the season. We obviously have a lot of work still to do on defense in order to give us a chance to win.
“We will keep the result in perspective as it is early in the year and we will continue to work hard to improve.”
Game Notes
• Sunday’s contest served as the seventh meeting between Canisius and Bucknell. The Bison evened the all-time series at 3-3-1 with their victory on Sunday, snapping the Griffs’ four-game unbeaten streak.
• Canisius out-shot Bucknell by a 15-10 margin and held a 7-2 edge in corner kicks taken.
• Brady’s second-half goal was the 17th of his career and his second career penalty-kick goal.
• Seven players – Matthew Spangler, Ryan Dagelman, Killian Panis, Julius Schoner, Noah Hodson,Federico Mereto and Tyler Lewandowski – all made their first career starts for Canisius.
Up Next
• Canisius opens the road portion of its 2019 schedule Sept. 6 when it travels to Binghamton for a 7 p.m. contest against the Bearcats at the Bearcats Sports Complex in Vestal, N.Y.
