Men’s soccer loses first game

The CSU-Pueblo men’s soccer team fell just short of a season-opening win Thursday, losing the first game of the 2007 season by a 2-1 score to St. Edward’s University.The ThunderWolves began the game well, holding strong defensively and just missing on some offensive chances as the game stayed deadlocked at 0-0 with the first half horn sounded.

CSU-Pueblo kept it up as the second half began, drawing first blood as Jonny Valenzuela (So., Las Cruces, N.M.) scored the T-Wolves’ first goal of the season at the 54-minute mark, giving his team a 1-0 advantage.

But that soon unraveled as St. Edward’s tied the game just 23 seconds later on a goal by Noor Jehangir. At the 65-minute mark, St. Edward’s took the lead on a goal by an unassisted goal by Patrick Miller.

The second half offensive explosion by St. Edward’s was typified by 10 shots on goal, as opposed to only five by the T-Wolves. In the first half, St. Edward’s outshot CSU-Pueblo by only a 7-6 clip.

CSU-Pueblo head men’s soccer coach, Roy Stanley, felt that the ThunderWolves fell short because they didn’t play the entire 90 minutes, which allowed their opponents to score.

“We played well at the beginning of the first and second halves, holding onto the ball and creating opportunities,” Stanley said, “but our ability to hold on to the ball went downhill and it became a struggle for us.”

The ThunderWolves will get an eight-day break before heading to Wichita Falls, Tex. to take on Midwestern State on Aug. 31. Stanley said he thinks the ThunderWolves have all the tools in place to be competitive enough to earn wins in their following game as well as subsequent games, and hopefully correct an ill that struck the team in the 2006 season - losing one-goal games.

“We have a lot of good players at each position, but it’s just a matter of finding the right people,” Stanley said. “We lost a lot of one-goal games last year, and losing close games isn’t good enough. We have to set our goals higher. We’ll see what we’re made of next week [against Midwestern State].”

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