The AU men's soccer team remains undefeated in the Patriot League after its 2-0 home game win against the Lehigh Mountain Hawks on Saturday.
Going into the game, the Eagles were ready to play hard for a win. "Lehigh was the regular season champs," head coach Todd West said. "They were ranked in the top 20 preseason, so this was a huge win for us."
Despite firing the first nine shots of the game, Lehigh was unable to get an edge up on the Eagles. Once again, AU's goalkeeper Chris Sedlak was on the top of his game. Sedlak stopped seven shots throughout the shutout, adding to his five-game shutout record, a single-season career high.
The Eagles started a string of domination in the 30th minute when junior forward Anthony Moy earned his team a penalty kick. Moy was taken down by a Lehigh defender when he dribbled the ball into the box.
The penalty kick made contact with teammate Phil Purdy who buried it in the top right corner from 12 yards out. The goal for the Eagles was the first on the board.
Once play resumed after the goal, the Eagles quickly gained possession of the ball. Freshman defender Mark Wysocki passed the ball in the right flank to teammate Jake Van Yahres took the ball one-on-one near the corner flag, faking out his defender and causing him to slip down. Van Yahres continued into the box where he beat another defender with a right-to-left crossover and fired the ball low to the near side and into the back of the net.
At the end of the first period, American was up 2-0. The second half remained scoreless as both teams battled back and forth without success in their offensive zones.
The team faces Holy Cross next Saturday where it will fight to hold onto its undefeated league title.
"We have Holy Cross next week and it has been one of our big rivalries since we've come into the league," West said. "It is going to be a huge game for us. We are going to work on our possession, we want to keep the ball better then we are right now. But I think the team's attitude is fantastic right now"
