ANNVILLE, Pa. – Lebanon Valley was unable to capitalize on a handful of scoring chances and the Flying Dutchmen fell to a scrappy Misericordia team 2-0 at Herbert Field on Wednesday evening, Sep. 24.
After 30 minutes of stalemate action, the visiting Cougars struck first when Chris Panagacos gathered a loose ball in traffic following a free kick. He made a move to his right and connected with a well-placed shot that found the lower right corner of the Dutchmen net in the 34th minute.
The visitors were finally able to put the game out of reach late in regulation. Misericordia's Derek Antonini had a head of steam when he found teammate Nick vonEgypt on the right side of the LVC box. vonEgypt handled the pass and hesitated a moment before striking his shot into the left side of the Dutchmen net in the 84th minute.
After struggling to get going offensively early on, LVC was presented with its first real opportunity with two minutes remaining in the first half. Sophomore
Jon Kok struck a free kick from the left sideline deep into the Misericordia box. His offering made its way through traffic towards the Cougar net but unfortunately there was no Dutchman there to send it home.
The best Blue and White attempt of the game came midway through the second half when senior
Jordann Ferguson muscled his way through the Misericordia defense, drove into the Cougar box, and fired off a shot from close range. Visiting goalkeeper Barry Fitzgerald made a great diving stop to his left to deny Lebanon Valley in the 61st minute.
Sophomore
Alex Detweiler did his best to try to connect with the equalizer in the game's 70th minute but once again Fitzgerald was able to make the diving save.
The home team managed just two shots on goal compared to Misericordia's five. LVC sophomore keeper
Kyle Miller turned away three shots on the afternoon.
The loss dropped the Dutchmen to 4-4-1 on the season and was the team's penultimate non-conference matchup of the year. Lebanon Valley travels to Marywood this Saturday, Sep. 27 before beginning Commonwealth Conference play on Oct. 8 against Albright.
