The Lafayette men’s soccer team holds a 4-2-1 record ahead of their first Patriot League match against Bucknell University this Saturday.

After starting the season with three wins and two losses, the Leopards grabbed another win, defeating La Salle with a final score of 2-0. The team scored in both halves, with freshman midfielder Sebastian Varela scoring the first goal and junior forward Dylan Royalty scoring the second. Both goals were scored off of headers.

“We played both sides of the ball quite well, [we’re] happy with the result and the overall performance,” head coach Dennis Bohn said. “We lost to that team last year, [so] for us to bounce back and beat someone and turn the results around was definitely a positive.”

The Leopards also tied Fairleigh Dickinson University last Saturday with each side conceding one goal. Junior midfielder Chris Gomez scored his second goal of the season.

“They put quite a bit of pressure in the beginning of the second half, we were doing a good job standing up to their pressure… we did hit two cross bars and one post, which was unfortunate,” Bohn said.

Bohn says sophomore defender Andrew Venezia and junior midfielder Ryan Goncalves also contributed greatly to the set pieces.

“[Venezia and Goncalves] gave us good chances [to score]… if we can start finishing on a higher percentage on those headers, we can be pretty dangerous offensively”, Bohn said.

The freshman recruits this year has also been helpful on the field.

“We have three freshmen still starting for us, [and a] couple of the guys got some playing times off of the bench in games which also gave us good depth,” Bohn said.

The team is picked 10th out of the 10 in the conference for this year.

“[The team is] motivated to prove the doubters wrong, that we were better than they made us out to be…compared to last year, we are much more unselfish, much more determined,” Bohn said. “Kudos to the players and the leaders for shifting that mentality.”

The Leopards will play their first Patriot League match tomorrow at Bucknell.

“Our confidence is high, our commitment level is as strong as it has been in a long time,” Bohn said. “Our players are really excited to take on the challenge.”