The Shippensburg University men’s soccer team got its 2017 season off to a strong start, posting a win and a draw in its first two games of the season. Both games took place at home and were non-PSAC (Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference) matchups, but gave the team confidence moving forward into the heart of the season. 

The first game of the week, against the Lightning of Goldey-Beacom College, got off to a fast start. Jan Striewe scored off a header from a corner within 15 minutes, continuing his strong form from last season when he finished as the Raiders’ top scorer. 

Only 15 minutes later, Patrick Luebben converted a penalty to make it 2-0 for SU after a Goldey-Beacom defender blocked a cross into the box with his hand. Goldey-Beacom had the majority of possession in the first half, with the Raiders only mustering two shots on target, both of which were converted for goals.

Goldey-Beacom had some fancy buildup play with some efficient passing, but were unable to get a legitimate chance from eight shots in the half, only one of which was on target. Most of the chances for Goldey-Beacom were easily caught by SU keeper Matt Harder. 

The second half started with more of the same from Goldey-Beacom. Pressure was mounting on the Raiders before finding the final goal of the game through Cole Kropnick’s goal in the 60th minute off Erik Espinoza’s assist. Goldey-Beacom continued to try and get something from the match and that opportunity came just before the 80-minute mark when the Lightning were awarded a penalty off a handball foul against the Raiders. Harder continued his stellar performance in the game, saving the penalty and keeping his shutout intact. It was the third shutout of Harder’s career and it was an impressive opening victory for the Raiders.

The team was back in action Sept. 2 at home against Concord University. The weather was awful during the match, with rain coming down almost the entire time, making the field soggy and slippery for the players. 

This match started off even quicker than the first match, as Jake Shefsky scored in under two minutes directly from a corner kick and Kropnick scored about 45 seconds later after a Concord player turned the ball over right at the top of the box, putting the Raiders up 2-0 in less than three minutes into the match. 

Concord turned up the pressure following the second goal and was able to earn a penalty kick at the 17-minute mark, narrowly getting the ball past Harder to cut the deficit to one. 

Concord did not let up there, continuing to surge forward to try and get the equalizer. The SU defense did remarkably well in not letting Concord have too many quality chances and giving Harder a better shot at saving any attempts. But with so much pressure, the Raiders could not keep the ball out forever and ended up conceding the second goal off a corner a few minutes into the second half. 

Despite the tie, SU head coach Jeremy Spering said that he was proud of his team for not giving up after the game was tied. 

“A major lesson that I think we showed today that we’ve learned from the last two seasons when they tied it up,” Spering said. “In previous two seasons, too much, we would concede and lose. We didn’t do that today. We still demonstrated that hey, this isn’t going our way, but we’re definitely not letting this game get away from us.” 

Both teams exchanged chances in the rest of regular time and in extra time, but both defenses were up to the challenge and kept the game at 2-2 after two periods of extra time, resulting in a draw

Spering was pleased with his team’s opening performances.

“The week ended positive for us. We got the result Thursday, we got a tie today. That’s four points. We’re plus four for the week,” he said.

The Raiders are back in action Saturday at Salem International University, looking to continue their hot start to the season.

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