Men’s Soccer Hosts Hood Saturday

By: Laura Chapman
Assistant Sports Information Director
chapmal@juniata.edu • juniatasports.net
Photo: Cat Scholl 

HUNTINGDON, Pa. – The Juniata College men's soccer team hosts Hood College this Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. on Winton Hill Field. The Eagles are coming off their first loss of the season and are looking to rebound against the 2-3 Blazers.

"I think we're going to bounce back well," said head coach Dan Dubois. "The guys have shown, in the last few days of training, that they are focused and are not willing to let [what happened at Lycoming] happen again."

Juniata started off the season 5-0 before playing to a 1-1 draw at home against King's College. So far this year, the Eagles have scored 14 goals and have yet to be shutout. The Juniata defense has only allowed four goals and has posted four clean sheets. The back line has the Eagles nationally ranked 15^th in shutout percentage and ninth in goals against average. Up front, Juniata tops the Landmark Conference in assists per game and total assist and is nationally ranked in both categories.

"Offensively we're working out all of our kinks," said Dubois. "We have a very young midfield and a very experience front line. Our success is about getting those two groups on the same page. We're just trying to work on matching up what our midfield does very well with what our strikers do very well. We've been doing that all year, but now we're really fine tuning things and making sure everyone is on the same page."

Hood snapped a two game losing streak last Tuesday by defeating Shenandoah 2-1. The Blazers' other win of the young season came against Mount Aloysius, 5-3. Juniata also faced Mount Aloysius earlier this year and finished with a 3-0 victory. The Blazers are averaging 1.6 goals per game and are doing that damage with a .581 shots-on-goal percentage.

"It should be a competitive game," said Dubois. "They are well coached. The coach that is there is the only coach that program has ever known. They're in a good area for soccer and they've had some decent results this year. It should be a fun match."

The two teams have only face each other twice in the last 10 years. They last met in Frederick, Maryland on the Blazers home field in 2010. That day, Juniata came away with a 1-0 win. In 2009 the Eagles earned the victory at home over Hood 2-0.

"The goal is to get through the weekend giving up no goals and making sure we don't get shut out," said Dubois. "If we can do that then we'll be on the good side every day."

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