HARRISONBURG, Va. - The
William and Mary Tribe men's soccer team fell in a hard-fought match to the
Georgia State Panthers on Thursday night, falling 2-1 in the quarterfinals of
the Virginia 529 CAA Men's Soccer Championship.
With the setback, the Tribe's record drops to 10-9 on the season.
Senior Nicolas Abrigo scored the Tribe's goal off a penalty
kick in the 50th minute, while senior goalkeeper Colin Smolinksy made seven
saves in the loss.
In the ninth minute, the Tribe had its first offensive
buildup of the match. Working on the
left side, sophomore Chris Perez played a nice ball to freshman Josh West in
the center of the field. West found some
space and cracked a shot towards goal from 23 yards out, but his attempt went
wide of the left post and out of play.
The Tribe's next good look on goal came in the 34th minute,
when a pair of freshmen teamed up. After
taking the ball of the foot of a GSU midfielder, Chris Albiston found a
streaking Josh West down the right side of the pitch. West beat his man, taking a shot from 8 yards
out that just missed the far post after being deflected.
Through 45 minutes, the score remained 0-0. In the first half, GSU took nine shots,
getting four on goal, while the College took five getting one on target. Corner kicks at the break were 3-2 in favor
of the Panthers.
Just five minutes after half, the Tribe broke through with a
goal. On the attack, sophomore Roshan
Patel collected a rebound and turned away from goal to reset the offense. Five yards away from the net, Patel was
tripped up from behind, drawing a foul and a penalty kick for William and Mary. Abrigo stepped to the mark to take the
penalty kick and converted nicely, giving the Tribe a 1-0 lead. The goal was the ninth on the season for
Abrigo and his second via a penalty kick.
After going down a goal, Georgia State ramped up it
offensive attack and after 15 minutes found the equalizer off the foot of Stephen
McGill. With the ball in the Tribe's
half, McGill fired a shot from 25 yards out, beating the W&M keeper to the
top left corner, tying the match at 1-1.
In the 77th minute, GSU took a 2-1 lead, scoring off corner
kick. Off the corner, Evan Scott finished
a header just inside the right post to give the Panthers a 2-1 advantage over
the Tribe.
In the 81st and the 82nd minute, the Tribe was able to earn
a pair of corner kicks, but the Georgia State defense was able to clear both
ball out of their own 18-yard box and out of danger.
With the Panthers sending all of their players back on
defense, the College was unable to find its second goal of the match and fell
to Georgia State, 2-1. Abrigo and West
led the Tribe with three shots each.
The William and Mary Tribe men's soccer team now awaits to
see if it will earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. With an RPI of 29 entering play this weekend,
along with a tough strength of schedule this year, the College has built a nice
resume. The selection show for the NCAA
Tournament will air on NCAA.com at 4:30 PM on Monday, November 14.
