Oct. 11, 2011
Box Score
PRINCETON, N.J. - In a contest that was televised live on ESPNU, Kyle Scharfenberg scored for the second consecutive match, but the Lafayette men's soccer team let in two first-half goals and was held off by host Princeton, 2-1.
With the loss, the Leopards fall to 6-3-3 on the season, snapping a four-match unbeaten streak (2-0-2). Princeton, the defending Ivy League champion, improves to 3-7-1.
Scharfenberg's goal came in the 19th minute to knot the score at 1-1. It was the third goal of the season for the junior, who also buried the game-winner against Lehigh on Saturday.
Graham Heydt made five saves in goal for the Maroon and White. The Tigers' Max Gallin stopped one shot. Princeton outshot the Leopards, 20-4.
Princeton struck first in the sixth minute, as Chris Benedict took a throw-in from Mark Linnville and blasted the ball from 20 yards out into the top corner of the net to give the home team a fast 1-0 lead. The tally ended the Leopards' streak of 424:04 without allowing a goal.
The Leopards answered in the 19th minute with a 30-yard strike from Scharfenberg. Gallin got a hand on it but couldn't redirect the blast. The unassisted tally tied the match at 1-1 with 26:31 left in the half.
The deadlock was short-lived, however, as Matt Sanner found daylight at the far post and headed home a cross by Linnville almost exactly five minutes later with 21:32 to go until the intermission.
Lafayette was the aggressor to open the second half, but a host of quality chances came up empty in the first 20 minutes of the period - including a strike by Blake Fink that beat Gallin but rolled just wide of the open net. Despite a furious pace, neither squad would add another marker in the final 45 minutes as the 2-1 score held up as the final.
The Leopards resume Patriot League in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, Oct. 15 against first-place American. Lafayette returns to the pitch at Oaks Stadium on the following Saturday against Colgate.
