EASTON, Pa. -- Albany's Afonso Pinheiro took advantage of a turnover and turned it into the only goal of the game in the 55th minute to send the Lafayette men's soccer team to its first home loss of the season, 1-0, on Tuesday evening at Mike Bourger '44 Field at Oaks Stadium.
"I thought it was two evenly-matched teams with momentum swings back and forth," head coach Dennis Bohn said. "They had a guy step up and make a play and we unfortunately didn't. In the sport of soccer where every game is so close, the playmakers are the difference and there's no doubt that was the case tonight."
After a free kick taken off the goal line from the Leopards' sophomore goalkeeper Brad Seeber, senior Eric West tried to play a ball back to his teammate across the midfield stripe. Instead, the pass was intercepted by Albany's Nico Solabarrieta, who sent a long ball up the middle of the field for a streaking Pinheiro. Pinheiro beat the back line of a defense taken off guard by the counter attack and finished past Seeber into the bottom right corner for the only goal of the contest.
Lafayette led the way overall in shots, 11-8, and corners, 7-2. Seeber made four saves on the night, falling to 3-2-3 on the year, while Albany keeper Danny Vitiello pushed his record to 2-1-1 with four saves.
The Great Danes created the first chance of the contest in the 11th minute when Pinheiro worked 1v1 on a Lafayette defender at the top right corner of the box. The forward made a move to cut inside and ripped a shot on a line just outside the far post.
About 25 minutes later, senior Todd Forrester started a break for the Maroon and White. Working down the right side with speed, his cross found junior Aiden Passannante on the opposite side of the box. Passannante, making his first collegiate start, settled the ball and left it for an oncoming Ryan Egan, who sent a one-time shot high and over the right corner out of play.
The game moved through the halftime break scoreless before Egan almost broke the draw in the 48th minute. A throw-in from junior Campbell Weyland fell to the feet of senior Eric West, who worked with his back to a defender and passed it across to Egan in the middle. The senior faked a shot to get around a pair of Great Dane defenders, but unfortunately sent a missile just off the outside left post.
After Pinheiro's tally minutes later, the Leopards responded earning a number of corners and putting constant pressure on the Albany defense. Freshman Josh Kruczek provided a spark off the bench in the closing minutes, but nothing found the back of the net late as the Leopards fell by a 1-0 margin.
Lafayette opens Patriot League play on Saturday in a soccer doubleheader at Oaks Stadium. The men open the day at 1 p.m., while the women follow with a 7 p.m. kickoff time. Both games' opponents will be Army West Point in the Patriot League home opener for both squads.
