Rowan men’s soccer prevailed in their second home game of the season, defeating Messiah University 1-0 on Wednesday, Sept. 25.  

Davide Caputo scored the lone goal for the Profs in the tenth minute of the first half. He fired from the 18-yard penalty box and curved the ball down from above the goal to land in the top right corner.  

“I just turned the ball and saw the shot was open at the edge of the 18,” Caputo said. “None of my teammates were really open, so I just had to go, and it went up top corner.”

The shot was a thing of beauty, and it was clear to those in the stands that it was falling perfectly above the goalkeepers’ hands.  

“To be honest, I just picked my head up and shot it,” Caputo said. “I looked down to the ball and when I looked up it was already in the goal, so I didn’t see it.”

Rowan’s back line played with passion, getting pressured in the last 10 minutes by Messiah’s attack.  The defense held strong and didn’t allow any of the shots to go by them, securing the win.

“They just battled,” Head coach Scott Baker said. “At the end of the game when you’re up like that and we’re playing a great team like Messiah, they’re going to press us. It takes a great defensive effort from everybody. All 11 players on the field defended and did their job to shut them out. They’re a great team and don’t get shut out much, so I’m proud of them… That back four and the goalkeeper did an amazing job, and hopefully we’ll see that again on Saturday.”

Ryan Cleary played his first game at home this season, after serving a one-game yellow card suspension during the tie against Haverford at home. 

“It was really good,” Cleary said. “Missing that first game because of the suspension got to my head because I was ready to go. I love performing in front of our home fans. It was just a great feeling, especially to get the win today. Really needed it”

Cleary was all over the field, causing possession changes putting the Messiah defense in a blender, and dribbling with ease.  His speed was undeniable setting the edge and granting the Profs possessions that easily could’ve gone the other way.    

“I think [my speed] affects it a lot,” Cleary said. “Especially in the wide areas being able to have that outlet when we get under pressure. Being able to release me and relieve the pressure and get set up in the attack again so we can get good chances on goal.”

Coming off a lot of road games against Top-25 competition, the Profs were happy to be back home playing in front of their fans.

“I think the intensity has been there,” Baker said. “Some of the teams that we’ve played; Messiah is a great team, but Mary Washington is number one in the country and we were up 2-1 on them late in the game at their place after a lot of traveling. It was 0-0 against Christopher Newport… We were able to finish this game off and we have to make a habit of that and get wins. We showed the intensity the whole way. We need to improve in certain areas but we’ve been proud of the team and we knew that once we came out and got back on our home field and back into conference I think we’ll see some great things from the team.”

Rowan has another two-game road trip coming up. The Profs have the highest-ranked opponents on their schedule behind them, but as conference play starts, there is a different type of difficulty to the schedule.  

“The message is to do the same thing we’ve done all year,” Baker said. “We have to hold our standards and when we do, we can play against anybody in the country. The team has proved that and we’re going to be playing some tough competition. It’s going to bring up different challenges within the conference with rivalries and things like that, so I don’t think it’ll get easier. I think the level that we played in the previous games is going to get us ready to go out on the road in the conference and show who we really are. I’m excited to see that.”

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