This article originally appeared in the Empire State Tribune, the student newspaper of The King’s College.
The King's men's soccer team dropped their second game of the season against Berkeley College, 2-1, bringing their season’s record to 6-2.
The Lions had several opportunities to score in the first half, with six shots, including five shots on goal. However, they failed to capitalize on these opportunities.
"We created a lot of chances to score but we struggled to put away those chances," said junior defender Jackson Kane. "Our attacks and defense started breaking down. We made a couple sloppy mistakes and had fewer chances. We didn't give ourselves a lot of chances to win the game.”
The Lions’ one goal of the night came in the 39th minute of the first half.
Freshmen defender Diego Herrera had a free kick from over 50 yards away. He lifted the ball over all the players on the field. All they could do was watch as the ball soared in just over the Berkley goalie's hands.
"That was really cool. I had seen something like it once, but only once before in high school," Kane said. "It's always really fun to see a guy score a goal like that. It really got us energized, but I think it also played a part in their goal right after. We relaxed too much on defense."
Berkley midfielder Carlos Leon was able to score just one minute later, tying the game 1-1, where it stayed until after halftime.
Midfielder Jean-Gardy Derineau scored for Berkley scored in the 52nd minute, giving them a 2-1 lead, which they would not surrender for the rest of the game.
“It’s obviously a disappointing result, we feel the quality within our group means we should be looking to win every game we go into,” head coach Tom Harman said. “We played well and dealt with their physicality and long direct switches of play well. However, we switched off a couple of times and got punished. We lacked the intensity when pressing in the second half and once they had a lead they made life very difficult for us.”
The Lions had just four shots in the second half, but none of them were on goal. Kane said the Lions needed to work together as a team more in the second half.
"We've got to start committing to doing things as a team," Kane said. "We were doing some things together, but the further we got up the field, the more individually we were playing. We're going to start to practice more in units and tailor that approach in the coming games."
This loss was only the second game of the season where the Lions scored less than four goals and gave up more than one goal. Harman focused on the things the team needs to work on before their next game.
“There are a lot of freshman players in our group and it’s something we have to learn, we have to be on for 90 minutes against teams,” Harman said.
The team will have their annual senior night at their next game against Vaughn. The game will be on Sunday, Sept. 30 at 5 p.m. at the Aviator Sports Complex in Brooklyn.
"It should be a pretty good matchup. This team can be tough defensively, but I'm pretty confident we can win that game," Kane said. "It should be a good opportunity for our seniors to play their final home game and end their soccer career on a good note.”