BOX SCORE
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Center Valley, PA (September 24, 2011) – The senior duo of
Jonathan Balfour and
Sky Rimmele combined for three goals and an assist leading the DeSales University men's soccer team past Alvernia University, 3-2, in front of a capacity crowd at Homecoming on Saturday afternoon.
A very evenly played game that saw AU (5-2-1) hold a 15-14 edge in shots and both teams take seven corners saw the Bulldogs (5-2-1) put away its offensive chances in the win.
Rimmele opened the scoring 15:38 into the game when he blasted a laser beam of a shot into the left corner of the net from 10+ yards outside the box off a pass from sophomore
Brett Morris after Balfour had narrowly missed a goal just seconds before, hitting the near post on a shot inside the box. Rimmele's blast went thru the entire defense and found the back of the net before the Alvernia goalkeeper even attempted his dive to stop the ball.
Balfour then put the hosts up 2-0 just under seven minutes later heading in a perfect centering pass from junior
Steve Krause for his fourth tally of the year.
Alvernia made it a one-goal game in the 33rd minute when a foul in the box gave the Crusaders a penalty kick that
Kyle Martyn knocked to the right-side after the Bulldog keeper guessed to the left-side and that score stood into the half.
Balfour struck again in the 54th minute when Rimmele slid a pass to him on the left side of the box where he was wide open, one-on-one with the goalie and after a touch, he blasted a shot under the left arm of the keeper, regaining the two-goal advantage.
Eric Franks responded just 3:10 later taking a pass over the top and beating the DSU keeper to the right corner to pull Alvernia within one once again but that was all the Crusaders could muster as the Bulldogs won their second straight and stayed unbeaten at home over the last 11 games (10-0-1) dating back to last season.
Freshman
Colin Sulpizio made five stops in between the pipes for the Bulldogs.
DeSales puts that 11-game unbeaten streak at home on the line on Monday when they take on Lebanon Valley College beginning at 4:00 pm.