Recap of St. Mary's Italian Men's Soccer Tour Thus Far

Taglio di Po, Italy – The St. Mary's College of Maryland men's soccer team is currently undefeated during its tour of Italy, having outscored its opponents, 8-4, with victories over Union Sportico Delta Scardovari and USD Tagliolese.  St. Mary's hopes to finish its tour undefeated as the Seahawks play their final match tomorrow, August 10 against Calcio Castelfiorentino in Florence.

The Seahawks have been in Italy for four days since arriving in Venice on August 5.  In between matches, the team has enjoyed sightseeing in Chioggia, Montecatini Terme, Pisa and Venice.  St. Mary's will return to the states on August 13, five days before reporting to campus for preseason. 

St. Mary's 4, USD Scardovari 2 – August 6
During their victory over USD Scardovari, the Seahawks dominated the field of play and fired off 14 shots.  St. Mary's struck first in the 23rd minute as senior George Gusack (College Park, Md./DeMatha) found the back of the net after junior Drew Gainey (Mechanicsville, Md./Chopticon) spotted Gusack's run into the box and played the ball wide left.

Junior Brian Payne (Baltimore, Md./Calvert Hall) netted the second goal as Payne drove in a hard, low free kick that was deflected into the goal by the Scardovari defense.  Junior Ted Scharfenberg (Holbrook, N.Y./St. John the Baptist) collected the third goal as Scharfenberg buried a ball that was volleyed into the box and bounced to him.

The final goal came off sophomore Ryan Plaisance's (Gaithersburg, Md./Gaithersburg) foot following a great individual effort at the top of the box to beat the defender and send it to the upper corner.

Senior Keith Hines (Hollywood, Md./Leonardtown) was selected as the 'Man of the Match' after helping the Seahawks hold the midfield. 

St. Mary's 4, USD Tagliolese 2 – August 8
The Tagliolese football club was a tougher opponent than Scardovari causing a slow start for the Seahawks.  However, St. Mary's prevailed just minutes before halftime as junior Matt Grady (Rockville, Md./Walter Johnson) one-timed a pass from Plaisance for a 1-0 advantage at intermission.

The Seahawks picked up their momentum in the second half as Hines got a head on a long ball played into the box which fell to Gainey.  Gainey then finished from the right side of the goal.  The third goal came in transition as the ball was played wide to Payne who then drove into the box and played the ball to the back post for a senior Nick Ibello (Cockeysville, Md./Calvert Hall) finish.

Tagliolese avoided the shutout by converting on a penalty kick; however, Ibello returned the three-goal cushion with his second tally of the evening following a slotted feed from Scharfenberg.  Tagliolese finished off the scoring with another penalty kick conversion.