Chatham Men's Soccer Defeats Pequannock 1-0

Senior Conor Goepel saved the men's soccer game against Pequannock Monday when he shot a left-footed laser into the goal with ten minutes left to play in a 1-0 road victory.

"I already missed two of them [shots on the goal]. I thought that was the worst angle I had on all three of them," Goepel said. He jokingly added, "Well, I guess it got the job done."

Chatham struggled in the first half against the Panthers' "flat back four" defense, a strategy that is tough to overcome when performed correctly.

"They have a little bit of a gap in the middle of the field and I think in the first half we weren't able to take advantage of that because physically they were beating us to the ball," Chatham mens soccer head coach Gene Foca said.

Foca adjusted his team accordingly in the second half, inserting Mike Fox and Matt Byers into midfield positions. In the second half, Foca said, "We had the middle of the field a little bit better than they did."

Foca has stressed the importance of bench play all season and in Monday's game he was able to get solid play from all around.

"We're able to get good players in when we need to either get the starters some minutes [of rest] or if someone's just not working out," Foca said.   

Chatham with this victory moves to 2-0-1 this season. The Cougars next game is Wednesday in Parsippany at 4 p.m.

"We've got to improve our play on grass, which ultimately means we've got to improve our first touch and control, and the other thing is improving on finishing," Foca said.