Men's Soccer Shuts Out Holy Cross on Senior Night, 2-0

Saturday, October 23

7 P.M.

Army West Point

7-6-1, 4-3-0

Holy Cross

8-5-2, 5-2-0

Holy Cross

Army West Point

Photo by: Army Athletics

Men's Soccer Shuts Out Holy Cross on Senior Night, 2-0

October 23, 2021 | Men's Soccer

Box Score

By: Phil Tor

GAME 14
SCORE	Army Black Knights 2, Holy Cross 0
RECORDS	Army (7-6-1, 4-3-0 Patriot) Holy Cross (8-5-2, 5-2-0 Patriot)
SCORERS	Army – 28' John Poncy (5), 39' Jake Burgess (1)
LOCATION	Malek Stadium - West Point, N.Y.

WEST POINT, N.Y. - In their final game at Malek Stadium as Black Knights, the Army West Point men's soccer team senior class led the way in a 2-0 defeat of Holy Cross. The Cadets picked up a critical win in conference play, defeating the top team in the Patriot League and earning three points with the result.

John Poncy and Jake Burgess scored goals and Jacob Suppiah cleaned up the only two shots he faced to lift the Black Knights to the win.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Army jumped on the attack early, per usual, working the ball in the Crusader half after the first touch. Cooper Warren fired off the first shot of the game that was just off the right post.

Holy Cross took a blow early, after a red card in the second minute forced them to play with 10 men for the rest of the contest.

The Black Knights went on the attack and nearly had a goal in the 17th minute when Oscar Periera played a ball to Atef Sikazwe who put a great cross on the foot of Justin McStay whose attempt ricocheted just wide.

Army would not have to wait long for a goal, after Pereira made another great pass, this time to John Poncy who beat the keeper to the bottom right corner of the net and got Army on the board.

Justin McStay and Pereira had two more attempts, but were not able to find the back of the net.

Army broke onto the scoreboard again in the 39th minute when Drew Clement broke free and played a great through ball to Jake Burgess who ran past the keeper and found the net for his first goal of the season.

Jacob Suppiah saved the only shot he faced in the first half to keep the score at 2-0 going into halftime.

Holy Cross threatened early in the second half, but it's advances were held off by the Army back-line of D'Anthony Brown, Nick Atkinson, Jack Eaton and Luke Doyle. The four defenders all turned in great performances on the defensive end of the pitch in front of their goalkeeper.

Pereira and Colman Kim put two early shots on goal, but both ended up above the crossbar.

The best chance for the Black Knights came in the 70th minute when McStay played another clean ball through to Pereira whose header just missed the inside post.

Carter Kowalewski had the final chance for Army on a free kick in the 88th minute. The captain ripped a shot to the nearside post that was collected by the Crusader keeper to keep Army at two goals.

At the 90th minute, the score would read 2-0 in Army's favor, as the Black Knights picked up a critical win in Patriot League play.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

Army out-shot the Crusaders 10-6 and 3-2 in shots on net
John Poncy scored his fifth goal of the season and his third in the last five games
Jak Burgess scored his first goal of the season in the game
Oscar registered his team-high sixth assist of the year
Pereira now has 18 point to lead the Cadets
Drew Clement added his second assist of the year in the contest
Jacob Suppiah added two saves in his third shutout of the season
This was Army's tenth multi-goal game of the 2021 campaign

JAKE BURGESS AND JOHN PONCY REACT

The goal scorers, John Poncy and Jake Burgess give their take on the win over Holy Cross on senior night #GoArmy | #TeamFirst pic.twitter.com/NqKLlhZjSX
— Army M.Soccer (@ArmyWP_MSoccer) October 24, 2021

COACH PLOTKIN'S THOUGHTS
"I'm really happy for the group to get a result tonight. Holy Cross is a very good team. We played with good energy tonight and a lot of belief. It was something that we talked about during the week.

I was happy to see two Firsties get goals tonight and Sup [Jacob Suppiah] get the shutout. It was a great way to cap off senior night and now we will get a good week of training in as we prepare for Loyola next weekend." - Army head men's soccer coach, Brian Plotkin

UP NEXT
Army will travel to Maryland to take on Loyola next Saturday. Three points will be on the line when the Cadets take the field opposite the Greyhounds in Baltimore. First kick is set for 1 PM.