Men’s Soccer get split results in Tom Bichy Tournament

Rockville, MD – The Men's soccer team came into the Tom Bichy tournament hoping to bolster their preseason national ranking against some of the best teams on the East Coast. Instead, the Raptors left the tournament with a win and a loss and a better understanding of the task in front of them this season.  

Over the Labor Day weekend, the Men's soccer team served as host for the Tom Bichy Memorial Tournament. The tournament, named after Hall of Fame Raptor's Men's Soccer Coach Tom Bichy, saw four nationally competitive teams compete over two days. Monroe College, Harcum College, CCBC–Essex was hosted by the Men's program. Ultimately, #11th ranked Monroe won the tournament, collecting two wins over MC and the CCBC-Essex Knights. Essex and the Raptors finished tied on points, but the Knights had the better goal differential to finish in second.  

In their first match, the Raptors faced off against the Monroe Mustangs and things went wrong from the start. Ninety seconds into the game, a turnover in midfield led to a Mustang breakaway. MC goalkeeper Marvin Mendez took down the Mustang's striker as he tried to go around the charging keeper, resulting in a penalty and an early deficit. Minutes later, a sloppy turnover from the Raptors resulted in another opportunity and the Mustangs staked a 2-0 lead within five minutes.  

Twenty minutes in, Hurrich Engoue was fouled on the edge of the Mustang box. Freshmen Defender Sota Matsuo bent a beautiful free kick over the wall and into the net to bring the score to 2-1. Unfortunately, three minutes later, the Raptors gave away a second penalty kick and the momentum stalled as the Mustangs restored a two-goal lead. Five minutes later, the Mustangs struck again, making the score 4-1. Two poorly defended corner kicks gave the Mustangs two more and the Raptors limped into the locker room down 6-1. The Mustangs added two more in the second half and left with an 8-1 win.  

Two days later, the Raptors had the chance to rebound from their loss, as they faced off against the Harcum Bears. Playing with an urgency and purpose that was lacking in the Monroe game, the Raptors took an early lead as Sophomore Striker Abdoul Anounkou put home a rebound off an Andres Javitt strike.  

The Bears responded with a goal of their own ten minutes later. A shot from the edge of the box rebounded off the far post and the Harcum striker was quicker to respond than the Raptor's defense to finish an easy chance. The goal left the teams tied 1-1, a score that held to the halftime break.  

Five minutes into the second half, Sophomore midfielder Andres Javitt pounced on a poor clearance from Harcum and hammered home a strike from the edge of the box to give the Raptors a 2-1 lead. The game remained tight throughout as Harcum sought the equalizer, but a solid defensive performance and a couple key saves from Freshman Goalkeeper Thomas Mauro saw the Raptors hold on for the 2-1 win.  

• Ishawarpreet Singh, a freshman defender from Canada, started on his college debut in the Monroe game.  

• Thomas Mauro, a freshmen goalkeeper from Canada, and Kevin Gomez, a freshman from Rockville, MD made their first collegiate starts in the game against Harcum.   

• Sophomore Diego Ramirez returned and made his first start of the 2022 season against Harcum. 

• Freshman Defender Sota Matsuo scored his first career goal in the Monroe game.