by Justin Bishop '24 on November 12, 2023
Sports Co-Editor
Sports
The Providence College men’s soccer team is off to a 2–4–2 overall start with a 0–1–1 Big East record. The Friars have had a brutal schedule to start the season, playing at the time No. 1 Syracuse University in Syracuse, NY as their first game of the season. The team fell to Syracuse 0–2 with goalkeeper Lukas Burns ’24 making six saves out of eight shots on goal in the losing effort. The team then went 2–1 over their next three games. PC beat Merrimack College 2–0 thanks to Brendan McSorley ‘24 and Bruno Rosa ’26 scoring one goal apiece. McSorley had a team high of four shots with two of them landing on target. Providence then fell to Hofstra University 2–4 with Pearse O’Brien ’27 and Nathan Messer GS ’23 scoring back-to-back goals to tie the game 2–2, but Hofstra scored two more to put the team away. Cross-state rival the University of Rhode Island hosted PC in this year’s Ocean Cup match, and per usual, PC came out on top 2–1. A 62nd minute goal from Cole Dewhurst ’25 and an 88th minute goal from McSorley put the Friars on top. Burns also tallied three saves on four shots in the win, and McSorley again led the team in shots with a total of four.
The Friars next had a tough four games, going 0–2–2. They started off with a 2–3 home loss to the University of Massachusetts Amherst. PC cut the lead in half when Dewhurst notched his second goal of the year assisted by an O’Brien freekick. McSorley tied the game up in the 75th minute with his third goal of the year. However, the Minutemen scored one right after to give the Friars their third loss of the year. Notably, the Friars had eleven shots on goal compared to the Minutemen’s six.
PC then traveled to Akron, OH to take on Akron University, the No. 3 ranked team in the nation. The Friars got out to a quick 2–0 lead with goals from Diego Batista ’26 and Gevork Diarbian ’24 who each scored their first goals of the year. The Zips scored in the 41st minute, but Messer scored right back in the 42nd minute for his second goal of the year right before the half to make it 3–1. That would be all the Friars would score, and Akron showed why they are ranked No. 3 by scoring two goals to tie PC.
The team then battled against Brown University, eventually tying the Bears 1–1 with the lone goal coming from Rodrigo Vaza GS ’23 who notched his first tally of the season. Providence outshot Brown 20–11 and had more shots on goal winning that battle 7–2, but it was not enough to win the match.
PC most recently played against Big East foe Villanova University on Sept. 23, and it was a high scoring affair with the Wildcats coming out on top in Friartown 4–3. It was a back and forth game as Villanova came out with a second minute goal followed by a 12th minute goal from Messer for the Friars, gaining his third of the year. Next, Villanova scored three minutes later to go up 2–1. PC responded with two goals to take the lead 3–2. The first was an assist by Messer to McSorley, who tallied his fourth of the year, in the 25th minute, and the second was scored by O’Brien, earning his second goal of the year, in the 68th minute. Villanova was not done yet as they scored two unanswered late in the game to finish off the Friars 4–3.
Providence currently sits last in the East Division for the Big East Conference and at 11 out of 12 teams in the whole conference. The Friars have the whole East Division to play, minus Villanova along with Siena College. Out of the seven games remaining, Providence has four of them at home, including a home game on Oct. 14 against the No. 1 team in the conference, Georgetown University, . They will need to find consistent scoring on top of what McSorley, Messer, and O’Brien produce. The team also needs to improve goalkeeping as they have a .561 save percentage while the opponents they play have an average of .688 save percentage. They have more shots 110–105, and they have more shots on goal 48–41 than their opponents, so offense is not the issue.
The team takes on DePaul University on Friday, Sept. 29 at 7 p.m. in another Big East matchup that is a must win for the Friars.