Published: April 3, 2008

The Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) soccer team lost their season opener 5-2 to Brooklyn FC 2 on March 9 at Bryant High School in Astoria, Queens.

Patrick Wyllie, FCLC ’09, started in goal and immediately faced pressure from the Brooklyn FC 2 strikers. Within the game’s first five minutes, Brooklyn FC 2 scored their first goal after FCLC defenders failed to clear the ball out of danger. Brooklyn FC 2’s striker hit a shot that deflected off the top of the crossbar and landed straight in the net.

A few minutes later, a Brooklyn FC 2 striker scored to make it 2-0. Despite three FCLC defenders being draped over him, the striker was still able to get a shot off to beat Wyllie.

After a lackluster start to the game, the FCLC offense began to awaken. FCLC was able to cut into the early deficit as Jason Portillo hit a shot off of the Brooklyn FC 2 goalie right to Russ Martonis, FCLC ’07, who tapped in the rebound on an empty net to make it 2-1.

When it looked like FCLC was gaining momentum, Brooklyn FC 2 made it 3-1 as one of their strikers shot a ball right through Wyllie’s legs.

In the second half, both teams were able to get numerous shots on goal resulting in scoring chances. Brooklyn FC 2 was first to score, raising their lead to 4-1, on a pass from its midfielder to its striker who headed the ball into the FCLC goal.

FCLC stayed in the running, as a few minutes later, Portillo hit a line drive shot that landed in the top corner of the net to make it 4-2.

But in the final minutes of the game, an error by Wyllie led to the fifth Brooklyn FC 2 goal. The FCLC defender was unable to pick up the goal and the Brooklyn FC 2 striker picked up the ball and shot it in the empty net that Wylie had stepped too far away from.

Peter Muller, FCLC ’10, co-captain of the soccer team, offered his thoughts about the team’s play during the game.

“We played well and did a good job of bringing the ball down the field,” said Muller. “We just had a hard time getting the ball in the net and need to work on taking more shots whenever possible.”