St Francis opens up Brooklyn Bridge Park home schedule with a win
It was a big game for St. Francis Brooklyn as its men’s soccer club opened up its new home field at Brooklyn Bridge Park. Before that game, the Terriers had played at “home” before, but home was at Aviator Sports Complex which is a 17.5 mile drive away and drew no home fans. Now they had over 250 in attendance cheering them on.
However, for junior Kevin Correa it was a big game for an entirely different reason and there was only one fan that he wanted to impress — his mother, who had came to see him play for the first time in his college career.
“Personally, I felt relieved just because my mom came over to see the game,” he admitted. “It was the first time she ever came and watched me play. So there was a lot of pressure to get a goal for her.”
Correa says that he felt pressure, but it was hard to tell from the stands as he raced down field during the second minute, took a long feed from Cyril Coisne, raced past the defenders, and chipped the ball past St. Peter’s goalie Carlos Suarez.
“It’s something indescribable,” he said. “When I had the first breakaway goal everything was going through my head, the view, the goal, the crowd. It was just incredible. It felt like there was a lot more intensity. Seeing how packed we had the field, the first ten minutes we came out with everything.”
Things got a little rough for Correa and the Terriers after that. The game got physical, he was spiked at one point, a dirty play that nearly sparked a brawl, and St. Francis went into halftime tied at 1-1.
“We started clicking right away, we got an early goal,” St. Francis coach Tom Giovatto said. “Unfortunately, the play was a little rough, a little dirty at times. I feel like we lost what we wanted to do and kind of got into their game plan. Half time couldn’t come soon enough. We figured some things out at halftime.”
The second half was all Gabriel Bagot. The talented senior with 17 career goals was still looking for his first goal of the season when the second half started. By the end he had a pair.
Bagot’s first goal came during the 63rd minute. He received a pass from John Johansson, got a breakaway, and blew passed the defense for a breakaway. His second, during the 80th minute, was off a cross, again from Johansson, that Bagot headed in past the goalkeeper and into the back of the net.
“It was good to get the win because otherwise it would have just been a night to play on the new field. It would have been special, but not as much. Now it’s a great night. It’s finally good to open the goal count.”
Bagot lead with two goals, Correa had one. Johansson had a pair of assists, both on Bagot’s goals, and Coisne assisted on Correa’s. Jack Binks allowed just one goal, during the 35th minute to Omar Crowl, but he stopped a career high six shots on goal.
The Terriers will take to the road for a couple of games, this Saturday against Howard University and then a week later against Manhattan College on the following Sunday. They finally return to Brooklyn Bridge Park to take on St. Joseph’s University. The Terriers last played St. Joe’s on Sept. 1, 2012 and won 5-1 on the road.
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