Today: Feb 10, 2025

Soccer wins again, season off to 2-0 start

Andrew Anastasio – Sports Writer

The Owls defeated the Golden Lions of Dowling University 2-1 last Tuesday night at Jess Dow Field to improve their record to 2-0 on the season.

Eleizer Santiago | Photo Editor
Players walking off the field following their 2-1 victory over Dowling.

Despite coming away with the victory, head coach Tom Lang said there were still some aspects of his team’s play he’s concerned with.

“We’re 2-0 right now, and we just have to keep getting better every game,” Lang said. “I know its cliché, but each game we’re trying to get a little bit better. We got a bunch of new guys so it’s going to take some time. It just has to improve as we go forward from here.”

The Golden Lions scored the first goal of the game in the 11th minute by senior Sean Dougherty, assisted by freshman Jon Burch. The Owls responded a minute later when freshman Daquan King, assisted by freshman Mads Larsen, tagged on a goal of his own to tie the game at one all.

First year player senior Mario DiMiceli, scored the game winning goal for the Owls in the 18th minute to increase his season total to four. In the season opener against The College of Saint Rose, DiMiceli recorded a three-goal effort. DiMiceli said after the game he was thrilled to score the victory clincher, but he needed to move forward from it.

“I’m always happy about scoring any goal, but I’m very happy this one was a game winner,” DiMiceli said.

“Now I just have to focus on the next game and kind of forget those goals. I just need to keep the positive feeling about it and work even harder to get even more goals by the end of the season.”

The Owls controlled an offensive attack throughout the game, which resulted in eight shots, seven which were on-goal.

Dowling concluded the game with a total of nine shots. Three of them were on-goal.

Regardless of their victory, Lang said after the game he was content with the win, however the team still has pending improvements.

“To be honest with you, I’m happy we got the result and won the game, but I’m disappointed in some aspects of our play,” Lang said. “I don’t think we were as sharp as we needed to be at long stretches in the game. We’ll take the result, but we’ve got to a lot better.”

The Owls haven’t started off their season at 2-0 since 2010 when they started off 4-0 before recording a loss.

Senior mid-fielder Mario Costa said he accounts the team’s fast start to their level of morale.

“The chemistry on the team has been great,” Costa said. “Everyone is working hard, even the guys who don’t get to play are supporting everyone. We’re all supporting each other. The chemistry is great, and if we keep this going that’s awesome. That’s what it’s about right now, team chemistry.”

The Owls next three opponents, Stonehill, University of New Haven, and Saint Michael’s College are all Northeast-10 Conference games.

Lang said the team has to improve offensively going forward.

“We need to get better playing with the ball,” Lang said. “In tonight’s game, we got caught up in a game that doesn’t suit our style. I’m happy we were able to compete, and show some character in playing in that type of game. We need to be a better soccer team, so we still have some work to do.”

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