The Columbia men’s soccer team (3-5-1) fell in a narrow 1-0 defeat at Seton Hall (4-3-2) last night. The Lions had two players sent off in the contest that saw them fall to their fourth consecutive 1-0 defeat, extending their scoreless streak to five games and their winless streak to six.

“Unfortunately it was a similar story as last game,” senior captain Mike Mazzullo said, referring to the 1-0 defeat against Monmouth last week in which the Lions got off to a slow start. “We didn’t get the start we needed to­—this time it took us the red card to get our team galvanized and playing aggressively.”

Sophomore David Najem was a notable absentee from the Lions starting lineup, and defenders senior Nick Faber and junior Brendan O’Hearn were also ruled out through injury.
The teams saw possession change several times in the opening exchanges without any attempts at goal, before the home side threatened first. The Pirates recorded a shot on target 15 minutes into the match, but Alex Aurrichio in the Columbia goal was equal to the effort and pulled off the save.

The Lions nearly went ahead in the 22nd minute thanks to sophomore Henning Sauerbier. Senior center back Ronnie Shaban found Sauerbier in the box with a long ball, but the forward’s effort narrowly missed the target. (Shaban is a sports columnist for Spectator.)

It would be the hosts who eventually scored first, when senior midfielder Giovanni Zammiello’s header from a corner in the 24th minute found its way past Aurrichio in the Columbia goal.
The Lions were left a mountain to climb when they lost junior right-back Ifiok Akpandak to a red card in the 38th minute. Akpandak was issued a second yellow card for preventing a Pirates’ breakaway.

Seton Hall, which edged the first half in shots 5-4, almost doubled its lead within two minutes of the restart, but sophomore midfielder Christian Battistesa saw his shot come back off the woodwork.
The visitors’ misery was compounded shortly after the hour mark when sophomore defender David Westlake, who came off the bench, was awarded a straight red card for a late challenge. The Lions may feel aggrieved at the referee’s decisions, as they received two yellow cards in addition to the sending offs, while no player from Seton Hall was booked. Furthermore, the Lions will be without both Akpandak and Westlake on Saturday when they host Brown in their Ivy League opener.

“The red cards were red cards,” Mazzullo said. “We need to make better decisions in those moments of the game.”

Junior forward Will Stamatis had an opportunity to equalize eight minutes from time after a cross by Sauerbier, but the junior was left holding his head as his finish was off-target. The Lions applied relentless pressure in the closing stages of the contest, including sending Aurrichio up to the Seton Hall 18-yard box for a corner, as they searched for the equalizer—but their efforts were in vain.

“Even after we went down to nine men, we executed our game plan and created scoring chance,” Mazzullo said.

Ivy play will commence with the match against the Bears on Saturday, Oct. 1 at Columbia Soccer Stadium.