Franciscan 5, Waynesburg 2
Franciscan Starters
Chris St. George, Mikey Irvin, Sebastian Koehler, Jonathan Schriner, Ryan Miller, Joshua Atkinson, Nick Miller, Joseph St. George, Liam Nagle, Josh Kyle, & Goalkeeper - Jax Mautone
Waynesburg Starters
McCann, Corradi, White, Hawkins, Dowling, Jacobs, Massotti, Gonzalez, Hall, Ormsby & Goalkeeper - Francus
How It Happened
Franciscan opened up conference play at home against Waynesburg. Franciscan got off to a strong start, controlling the ball well and getting good looks at the goal. Sebastian Koehler was all over the field making plays. 10 minutes into the game Koehler steals the ball at mid field and sends it up toward a streaking Mikey Irvin. Irvin sent a beautiful cross to the front of the net, where Jonathan Schriner wound up and sent a booming kick to the back of the net. In the 20th minute, freshmen Ryan Miller would find Sebastian Koehler who sent a shot to the far side of the net past the reach of the goalkeeper, and putting the Barons up 2-0. The Barons would control the ball well for the remainder of the half and maintained their 2-0 lead going into halftime.
In the second half, Waynesburg Massoti gave Franciscan problems, and in the 51st minute he drew a foul inside the penalty box. The resulting penalty kick ended in a goal, and Waynesburg was back in the game. Unfortunately for the Barons, Nick Miller would get a yellow card for contesting the call that led to the penalty kick. Two minutes later Mikey Irvin would zig zag through the penalty box, to set up Chris St. George for a goal, putting the Barons up 3-1. After a couple of no-calls on some high-contact plays, the Barons became frustrated and their play was not as sharp. This led to some unforced errors, and a yellow card on Ryan Miller. The resulting Free Kick was taken by Waynesburg's Corradi. Corradi sent a high ball over the defender wall from the top of the penalty box that was placed perfectly below the crossbar. Goalkeeper Jax Mautone made a brilliant effort to jump up and deflect the ball over, but unfortunately was unable to stop the ball and got injured coming down. Once again, Waynesburg found themselves in striking distance of tying the game. Backup goalie William Mooney would come in for the inujred Mautone. He would see early action, as Massoti drilled a shot from point blank. Mooney would take that ball to the chest, then deflect the shot of the rebound out of play. Midway through the second half, Waynesburg sent in a wave of subs to get some fresh legs in hopes of snagging the game-tying goal. Franciscan answered with a handful of their own subs. One of those subs was JP Bobak. JP plays a strong game and he muscled his way to the front of the net. Joseph St. George, crossed the ball to Bobak who fired the ball from point-blank range in front of the net. Eight minutes later he made the same play, pushing his way to the front of the net, then taking a pass from Sebastian Koehler, put the ball in the net for his second goal of the night. Barons would control the ball for the remainder of the game, and would win 5-2.
Inside the Numbers
-Chris St. George scored the first goal of his career.
-Freshmen Jonathan Schriner has 4 goals on the season.
-Sebastian Koehler is 16 points away from eclipsing the career 100 point mark.
-JP Bobak scored his first goal of the season, and first multi-goal game since D'Youville on 10/26/2019.
-Mikey Irvin has 5 assists on the season, which almost doubles his career total coming into the year.
Who's Next?
Franciscan will continue PAC play at their nearest rival, Bethany, on Saturday afternoon. The Barons hold the slight edge in career matchups versus the Bison at 6-5-2. Franciscan was able to beat them last season, in the season opener, and first game on Franciscan's new turf surface. Nick Miller scored a second half penalty kick to tie it up at 1-1, and then Mikey Irvin scored the game-winner late in the second half. Hopefully the Barons can keep up their recent success against a talented Bison roster.
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