LORETTO, Pa. (Oct. 13, 2006) – In one of its best efforts of the season, the Saint Francis University men’s soccer team put lopsided numbers on the score sheet on its way to a dominating 2-0 Northeast Conference victory over Saint Francis-NY on Friday, at the Stokes Soccer Complex.

Senior forward Scott Thompson (Durham, England / Lanchester Saint Bedes) scored his fourth goal of the season, sophomore midfielder Aaron Clapham (Christchurch, New Zealand / Aranui) tallied his third, and sophomore goalkeeper Brad Williams (San Lorenzo, Calif. / Arroyo) stopped the only shot he faced in the contest.

In total, the Red Flash outshot the Terriers 18-1, and held a 7-0 advantage on corner kicks.

Saint Francis-Pa. improved to .500 for the first time since the second match of the season, on Aug. 26. The Red Flash are 5-5-3 overall, and 2-0-2 in the Northeast Conference, after extending their unbeaten streak to seven matches (4-0-3), tying the longest streak in program history. SFU will return to action at 1 p.m. on Sunday when it plays host to Long Island at the Stokes Soccer Complex.

“It was a professional performance from the whole side – start to finish,” said Saint Francis University head coach B.J. Craig. “Each game this team has grown in character. When so many teams are focused on ability right now, and can’t handle the pressure at this point in the season, our players are working tremendously hard for each other, and our focus is on trying to be better each day and the results speak of that. There is a tremendous team spirit in the side, and that will carry us far into the latter parts of the season.”

After more than 10 minutes of testing each other, SFU finally broke the Terriers defense. Several one-touch passes resulted in the ball landing at the feet of Thompson, who slammed it home from 10 yards out at 12 minutes, 55 seconds. Junior midfielder Kurt Sagorsky (Greenwood, Ind. / Center Grove) was on the left flank and centered a one-touch pass to Clapham, who directed the ball to a wide open Thompson in the 18-yard box.

“I am happy for Scott Thompson, he really brought the team into the game up front and scored a well deserved goal from great build-up play, with much credit to several players,” Craig said.

Despite several outstanding scoring chances, the Terriers were able to hold back the Red Flash attack for the next 60-plus minutes. However, Clapham put the game out of reach at 79:18 when he slipped in behind the defense and put a Bryce Luetzen (Denver, Colo. / Denver Lutheran) cross into the back of the net.

“Aaron scored a great goal as well at a key point in the game as Saint Francis-NY is a team that can still cause you problems, but I thought that goal broke them a little bit at the end, something we were focused on all game,” Craig said.