The past week has been a busy one for NYU men’s soccer as they faced two consecutive University Athletic Association rivals — University of Washington at St. Louis Huskies and University of Chicago Maroons — on Oct. 12 and 14. The Violets ended the weekend with one loss and one win.
Another loss came for the men as they fell 2-0 to the Kean University Cougars at home in Gaelic Park. This result leaves the Violets with a 10-3-1 record and still atop their conference. They share the top spot with three teams: Brandeis, Carnegie Mellon and Emory.
Both matches over the weekend were decided in the final minutes of the game, with the latter ending in overtime.
The first game of the Midwestern trip resulted in a loss at St. Louis. The Violets had two great chances to score, delivered by seniors forward Kyle Green and midfielder Ryan Horch.
Only a short times after Horch’s wide shot, with 10 minutes left in the game, Washington’s forwards combined a short pass and a one-touch kick that went past senior goalie Jonas Poster into the back of the net.
At Chicago, sophomore midfielder Nimo Bergstroem, who came back from injury, scored the Violets’ sole goal in regular time off a cross from senior captain Niki Chow.
NYU and Chicago entered overtime tied at one goal apiece. In combination with senior forward Paolo Luciano, McNitt-Gray was determined to end the contest. Luciano’s short pass inside the box cleared the way for a big kick off the left foot of McNitt-Gray into the left corner only one minute and forty seconds into overtime.
“I thought our win in Chicago was crucial. We did extremely well with overcoming adversity from Friday’s loss as well as the weather and rain delays during Sunday’s game,” said sophomore midfielder Mickey Ingerman, who missed Wednesday’s game due to a concussion. “We’ve put ourselves in a great position for the rest of the UAA. It’s as simple as this: Win the UAA games at home, and you win the UAA.”
Upon returning home, the Violets were shut out in a loss for the second time in three games, despite having a 14-7 advantage in shots and having taken four more corners.
The Violets are not used to such a string of losses, considering their brilliant record this season.
“Losing always hurts, regardless of how many games you’ve won in between,” Ingerman said.
The Violets will play again at home against Richard Stockton College on Monday, Oct. 22.
A version of this article appeared in the Thursday, Oct. 18 print edition. Francisco Navas is a contributing writer. Email him at [email protected].