Men's soccer team falls to Marist in team's fourth straight loss

The University of Richmond men's soccer team lost their fourth consecutive game Saturday night, falling 2-1 to Marist College in the team's last game before the start of Atlantic 10 play on Oct. 10.

The Spiders, who are now 1-8-0, have been outscored 9-2 in the past four games. Brennan Lincoln had the lone goal for Richmond in front of about 200 people at First Market Stadium.

Senior Chris Nacca scored the deciding goal for Marist (3-5-1) in the 79th minute after getting a rebound from freshman Krystian Witkowski, whose shot on goal was deflected by a Richmond defender. Witkowski got the assist on the goal.

Marist took an early lead with sophomore Mike McGowan's first goal of the season, which came in the 19th minute of play. Marist set up the goal with crisp passing from players, including sophomore Eric Chaves, who had the assist.

Lincoln headed in his goal to tie the game for the Spiders during the 66th minute -- his second goal of the season. The goal was set up off of a free kick by freshman Ty Williams after a yellow card to Marist junior Matthew Boyd.

Marist junior Kevin Brown also got a yellow card later in the second half. Brown shoved Richmond junior Malcolm Joseph while in a battle for possession of the ball.

Conference games start for Richmond when it plays at the University of Dayton next Friday. The Spiders look to start over in this portion of their schedule.

"It's the start of a new season," Lincoln said. "We have a clean slate in the A-10. Everything has been preparation so far."

But the Spiders' lingering question for the season has been who would be their starting goalkeeper. So far, freshman Grant Schonberg has started four games in goal, and redshirt freshman Brock Tomlinson has started five, including the game against Marist.

"We've had injuries," Richmond coach Jeff Gettler said. "Brock has been sick and injured. We have been able to play both guys. Brock has played in tougher games, we wanted to give him some confidence. They are both very good goalkeepers. "

Still, players say the team is going into conference play with some momentum after a tough week of practice, despite losing the game tonight.

"I think today was good," Tomlinson said. "I think headed into the A-10 we have a little momentum. We had a good week of training and I think we will have a good showing [in the A-10]."

But Gettler said he still thought the team needed more work before playing against Dayton in six days.

"[We're] not prepared enough," Gettler said. "We still have to find ways to win. We need to find the edge between winning and losing."

Lincoln said he thought the team had the necessary skills to compete in the A-10 season. The Spiders last won the tournament in 2002.

"We are finally starting to get it," Lincoln said. "We don't have superstars on this team. We play the best when we talk. We have shown it for 20 minutes at a time. We need to see it for 90 minutes."

Contact reporter Andrew Prezioso at andrew.prezioso@richmond.edu