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Friends Become Foes for Ninety Minutes
September 24, 2005

Friends Become Foes for Ninety Minutes

Two JSB veterans battle each other in BIG EAST soccer action

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – (September 23, 2005) – Boca veterans Andrew Hawtin and Chris Konopka, long-time members of the Jersey Shore Boca Soccer Club, teammates on the Boca U20 team this summer, teammates and 2003 graduates of Toms River East High School (NJ) and both playing college soccer in the BIG EAST Conference, became opponents for ninety minutes on Friday afternoon as Hawtin and the Syracuse Orangemen battled Konopka and the Providence Friars in Rhode Island.

Hawtin and the Orange fell behind early in the contest giving Konopka and the Friars a 1-0 advantage on a Ryan Maduro goal from 24 yards out that found the top left corner of the SU net 7 minutes and 52 seconds into the game.

Syracuse dominated play in its offensive end of the field the rest of the first half, earning six corner kicks to Providence’s one, but still trailed 1-0 at the break.

Just over 15 minutes into the second half, the Friars’ leading goal scorer Eoin Lynch put Providence ahead 2-0 with a tally off a scrum in front of the net at 60:03.

Syracuse answered Providence’s score 9 minutes and 17 seconds later when SU’s Peter Rowley one timed Hawtin’s pass past Konopka and into the Providence net at 69:20.

It was Hawtin’s first point of his Syracuse career.

With momentum on its side, SU continued its offensive charge and with less than three minutes to play the Orange tallied the equalizer.

With the score knotted at 2-2 and less than a minute to play, Providence earned a direct kick in front of the SU net which rebounded to Maduro, who notched his second goal of the day at 89:22 to give Providence the 3-2 victory.

Hawtin, a smooth, technical defender who transferred from Ocean County College, has started in all seven games for Syracuse (4-2-1) this year.

Konopka, who garnered both ECAC and BIG-EAST Goalkeeper of the week honors earlier this week, finished the game with 3 saves on the day to help Providence (3-0-4) remain undefeated on the season. He has started in all seven games for Providence this year and logged 710 minutes between the pipes carrying a current save percentage of .876 and goals against average of 0.75.

Hawtin and Syracuse continue their road trip on Sunday, Sept. 25 when they play at No. 12 Connecticut while Konopka and Providence host No. 5 St. John’s Sunday afternoon.

Hawtin and Konopka are long-time Jersey Shore Boca teammates and were members of the Boca U20 team this past summer that advanced to the semi-finals of the USASA U20 Regional Championship as well as the semi-finals of the MSSL Cup Championship

Jersey Shore Boca, including Hawtin and Konopka, has a record fifty-five club standouts who previously played for Boca on either their Men’s, Super Y-League, PDL, Club or Youth teams that are participating in NCAA intercollegiate soccer this fall for their respective institutions.

This is the highest number of Jersey Shore Boca players to ever participate in NCAA intercollegiate soccer during the same season in the club’s 27 year history.

Jersey Shore Boca has been a fixture in the soccer community since 1978 and is one of the most respected soccer clubs on the East Coast.

The Club is celebrating their 27-year anniversary in 2005.

For more information on the Jersey Shore Boca Soccer Club, visit the Club’s official web site at www.jerseyshoreboca.com

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