Men’s soccer stuns #2 Briar Cliff

By Luke Zacharias

On September 9, the Waldorf Warriors played host to the Briar Cliff University Chargers.

Going into the game against the Chargers, the Warriors had a big task on their hands-keeping the #2 team in the nation at bay long enough to create good scoring opportunities. The Chargers came into the contest ranked #2 in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) with a perfect 3-0 record while scoring a total of 24 goals and only allowing one goal.

“Coach told us that we would be fine if we stuck to our defensive principles and frustrate them,” said senior defenseman Brian Shariffi. “We knew that if we played a defensive game that they wouldn’t have a lot of room to operate.”

Both teams played a good defensive game and it was scoreless at halftime. The Warriors had nine shot attempts while only three shots on goal, while the Chargers had eight shot attempts and only four shots on goal.

Ball possession was key for the Warriors in the second half as they continued to apply solid pressure and limited what Briar Cliff was able to do.

“The second half was when we really saw our defensive efforts pay off, ” said Shariffi. “We would recover the ball and we were able to score on a couple of counter-attacks.”

The Warriors scored four goals in the second half and held their ground defensively to secure the shutout for Erubey Ponce.

Junior Cristian Alvarez, junior Diego Barrera, senior Kwaku Amoah, and freshman Francisco Burns all scored one goal in the victory.

“It was a great team effort today and we hope to build off of today’s performance,” said Shariffi.

The Warriors improve to 3-3 on the season with the victory.
The Chargers suffered their first loss of the season and are 3-1.