Despite strong efforts, the AU men's soccer team was unable to bring home a win during its Saturday game, losing 6-1 against the University of South Florida at the USF Soccer Stadium.
Early into the game, the Eagles looked strong and promising. USF managed to score the first goal. AU quickly responded when only a minute later, sophomore Karsten Smith scored his first career goal off an assist from Daniel Shannon, putting AU on the scoreboard.
The Eagles kept the South Florida Bulls at a tied game for half of the first period. Unfortunately for AU, goalkeeper Chris Sedlak had his hands on a shot but lost his grip, causing the ball to roll into the net and score a goal for the opposing team.
The Eagles gave up another goal soon after, putting the team in a struggling position to keep up with the Bulls. Going into the second period, American trailed the Bulls 3-1.
"When you give gift goals to good teams in college soccer, you're going to lose games," Eagles head coach Todd West said in an AU Athletics press release. "We gave them two gift goals in the first half."
The game slipped away from the Eagles early into the second half when a Bulls player scored on a fast breakaway. AU was unable to respond on the field and gave up two more goals to tally a final score of 6-1.
"We played tentative and scared," West said in the press release. "Hopefully it was a learning process for a young team."
It was AU's worst loss since a 1992 game against Loyola Md. This was the second time since 1970 that the AU men's soccer team has given up six or more goals.
The Eagles are looking to rebound from its loss when the team travels to James Madison University Wednesday.
