Millersville junior forward Kyle Loughin heads one past the Shippensburg golatender on Saturday.  It was one of Loughlins three golas in the first half of play.
Millersville junior forward Kyle Loughin heads one past the Shippensburg golatender on Saturday. It was one of Loughlins three golas in the first half of play.
It was a week of highs and lows for the Marauder Men’s Soccer team. Last Wednesday, the Marauders suffered a road setback to a ranked Wilmington College team in overtime, 3-2.

The game saw the Millersville shutout streak end as well as their undefeated season. On Saturday, at home, they rebounded to defeat Shippensburg 4-0 behind junior Kyle Loughlin’s hat trick.

The Marauders have also had the last two PSAC players of the week, yet again, in goaltender Matt Langione and forward/midfielder Kyle Loughlin.

The Marauders have had at least one player listed as a player of the week in all four weeks of the season thus far. For Loughlin it was the second time in three weeks that he was named a PSAC player of the week.

The Wilmington game was a tough pill to swallow for the soccer team. Millersville opened the scoring less than two minutes into the game with a goal off a corner kick by junior defender Jeremy Yoder.

They tacked onto the lead at the 35 minute mark when sophomore forward Aaron Roland scored from about six yards out to make the score 2-0 at the break.

After halftime, the Wildcats scored two goals within a four minute span midway through the half to pull even with the Marauders. 6:12 into overtime the Wildcats struck for the game winner. Sargbah Tarpeh scored the game tying and winning goals for the Wildcats.

“2-0 is the worst lead to have,” senior defender and team captain Thomas Bargmann said. “After Wilmington’s first goal they were able to get their whole team; the coach, and the bench into the game.”

In the future it will be key for Millersville to avoid breakdowns like the one against Wilmington.

“We have to get that third goal,” Bargmann said.

Three days later the Marauders were back on their home turf and avoided any chance of another second half meltdown.

The Marauders rebounded in their next game against PSAC East rival Shippensburg. In front of a crowd of 300 people at Chryst field, the Marauders took out the Red Raiders 4-0.

Millersville was led by an impressive performance by Loughlin. The junior was able to record a hat trick in just under 17 minutes into the game.

Loughlin opened up the scoring at 5:02 with a goal and the assist was picked up by sophomore forward Dan Prian. It took less than 11 minutes for the Marauders to go up 3-0 when Loughlin converted opportunities at 14:50 and 16:40 of the first half for a hat trick.

The Marauders took that 3-0 lead into halftime and at the 46:05 mark senior forward Anthony Pagnotti closed the scoring by making it 4-0.

“It was very important for us to come back and get a victory against Shippensburg,” Bargmann said. “Against Wilmington we just lost our lead, so coming back and getting the win definitely helped lift the whole team’s spirit.”

Currently, Millersville sits atop the PSAC East standings in first place.
`The team holds a 4-0 record against conference opponents and will look to improve upon that record as they begin to venture into the nitty-gritty of their schedule.

Millersville will have to be on top of their game because with such a high national ranking they are a target on the schedule of just about every opponent that they will square off against the rest of the season.

“I’ve been most impressed with our ability to score goals so far,” Bargmann said.

But in order to maintain their high level of play Millersville will have to do more than just score goals.

“There is always something you can improve upon,” Bargmann said. “There are a lot of things we can do as a team. We have to stay mentally focused and not let up.”

It was a week of ups and downs by the Marauders for sure and that loss can only help them when it comes to playoff time.

This week the Marauders play host to the East Stroudsburg Warriors in a PSAC East showdown at Chryst Field on Saturday.

It is always a treat when these two elite PSAC programs face off.

“Obviously East Stroudsburg is our biggest competition,” Bargmann said. “We just need to keep our foot on the gas and not let up. We need to keep winning big games so that we can get a hold of home field advantage come playoff time.”

Millersville seems to be focused on the road ahead of them and it does not seem like they are going to get caught up in any more potholes along the way. Come and support your Marauders, as they take on East Stroudsburg in what will prove to be an electrifying matchup.