Saint Francis Men’s Soccer Suffers Disappointing Season Opener at Michigan State

EAST LANSING, Mich. (August 29, 2008) – The Saint Francis men’s soccer team kept Big Ten power Michigan State close for 64 minutes, but the Spartans scored three goals in less than seven minutes to hand the Red Flash a 4-0 season-opening defeat at the MSU / Radisson Fall Classic at brand new DeMartin Stadium at Old College Field.

SFU, which is coming off a 9-9-2 campaign in which it advanced to the Northeast Conference championship match, will try to bounce back with an 11 a.m. contest against Western Michigan on Sunday. The Red Flash defeated the Chippewas 2-1 last season.

Saint Francis second-year head coach Michael Casper started one true freshman and one sophomore transfer, and played a total of six freshmen in the game. Zac Scaffidi scored the game’s first goal at 19 minutes, 22 seconds as Michigan State controlled the action early.

The Red Flash held their own over the next 40-plus minutes, but Michigan State took advantage of SFU’s inexperience with three goals in the middle of the second half. Doug DeMartin put it out of reach with two goals of his own in 1:25. He received a long pass from Spencer Thompson to make it 2-0 at 64:14. He then made it 3-0 at 65:39. Thompson closed out the scoring with his first goal of the season at 71:06.

Michigan State held a 20-5 advantage in shots, and a 6-3 edge in corner kicks. Senior goalkeeper Brad Williams (San Lorenzo, Calif. / Arroyo) stopped six shots in the match.