Bison Men’s Soccer hosted their first home game this past weekend at Emmitt Field, facing off against Robert Morris University. Although the Orange and Blue finished with an 11- 4 shot advantage over the Colonials, they were unable to find the back of the net and ended up losing 3-2.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game but we also knew that it was a very winnable game,” Kasper Piela ’27 said. “We had training sessions going over what we wanted to do, [and] how we were going to defend and attack. We went over how we were going to press as a team and how they were going to play.”
The Bison maintained offensive possession for much of the game, especially in the first 15 minutes; however, they were unable to score during that time, despite attempts from Piela and Charlie Holmes ’26.
“It was a disappointing loss as we felt like we were the better team, but we need to be more clinical in finishing our chances. They had four shots with three goals while we had 11 shots with two goals,” Piela said.
The first point on the board was scored in the 17th minute by the Colonials. Eight minutes later the Colonials got their next goal, giving them a 2-0 advantage over the Bison 25 minutes in.
In the 32nd minute, Holmes was fouled by an opposing player in RMU’s penalty box and took a penalty kick, bringing the score to 2-1 RMU.
Only five minutes later the Colonials added another point to the board off a header by RMU senior Chase Gilley, bringing the score to 3-1.
In the final seconds of the first half the Bison had a corner kick, taken by Cade McGrath ’26, that almost made its way into the goal until RMU’s William Dodzi Afawubo bicycle kicked it out. It wasn’t until the 52nd minute that Ben Sheffield ’26 scored off a diving header, scoring the second Bison goal.
Despite great effort and energy, the Orange and Blue were unable to come back from the one-point deficit. Looking forward to their next game, Piela mentioned how the team is planning to prepare: “[We want to] keep building on what we have been working on as we have a plan that we all believe in. This week’s temperatures are high so we want to make sure we are hydrating well.”
Men’s Soccer will face George Mason University at home on Friday Sept. 8 at 7 p.m.
