The men's soccer team traveled south to Mount Pleasant, S.C., last weekend for the Aaron Olitsky Memorial/Nike Soccer Classic. Brown finished 1-1, edging out Furman University 1-0 and falling behind early to the College of Charleston before losing 3-1.
The Bears struggled in the first half of their match on Friday with Furman, recording only two shots on goal. The eventual game-winning goal came off a corner kick in the 65th minute. When the Paladin defense failed to clear the ball out of their territory, David Walls '11 gained control of the ball and his shot found the back of the net. Brown's defense held Furman scoreless for the remainder of the game, as Jarrett Leech '09 recorded his second shutout of the season.
Bruno was looking to finish out the weekend with a win over host Charleston on Sunday. The Cougars won their first game against No. 10 Ohio State 2-1 and were poised and ready to play another ranked team in the No. 18 Bears. The game got off to a fast start, as Charleston lead Brown after the first 13 minutes of play. Cougar Matt Morris shot one past goalie Paul Grandstrand '11 in the 13th minute and quickly followed up with a second goal in the 19th minute. With the Bears down 2-0 early in the game, they had an uphill battle to end victorious. Shortly before the half, Charleston's Jedd Cordisco scored on an unassisted breakaway goal.
After the intermission, the Brown defense held back the Cougar charge and did not allow a goal for the remainder of the game, but the offense could not cut into the 3-0 Charleston lead. Dylan Sheehan '09 finally put one in the net for Bruno in the 89th minute, assisted on a corner kick by Taylor Gorman '12. With only one minute to play, the first goal of the day came too late as the final score remained 3-1.
Leech was selected to the all-tournament team after his shutout on Friday, along with defender Rhett Bernstein '09 and midfielder Rob Medairos '12. Leech was also selected to the Adidas-Brown Classic All-Tournament team last weekend, where he received Defensive MVP honors. Medairos joins midfielder Evan Coleman '12 as two first-years who have been named to all-tournament teams from the past two weekends of play.
The Bears will try to rebound from their loss when they battle Boston University on the road on Wednesday night. They return home next Saturday as they take on in-state rival URI at 7 p.m. following the football season opener.
