BLOOMSBURG, Pa.. - The Bloomsburg men's soccer team began the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) slate Wednesday afternoon with a 1-1 draw to East Stroudsburg.

After a scoreless opening half, the score and the pace of play picked up, with both sides finding the back of the net. In the 56th minute, Patrick Walsh (Macungie, Pa./Emmaus) hammered home a shot into the bottom left corner to put the Huskies up 1-0. The Warriors responded in the 67th minute to knot up the game.

Brady Rimple (Cherryville, Pa./Northampton Area) aided the Huskies' efforts in the draw, matching his career-high in saves with eight in the contest.
Bloomsburg sits at 3-1-1 overall on the season with a 0-0-1 mark following its conference opener. East Stroudsburg moves to 1-0-2 on the season and 0-0-1 in the PSAC.

How It Happened:
The Warriors had the better opening 45 minutes, keeping the Huskies on their backfoot defensively. 

Bloomsburg looked to strike early from an early corner opportunity. Braden Alicea (Huntingdon Valley, Pa./Lower Moreland) whipped in a ball that first connected with the head of Kody Besser (Lacey Township, N.J./Lacey Township). After the attempt, the ball fell to the feet of Sam Blumberger (Colchester, Conn./Bacon Academy), with the forward putting the ball high inside the first six minutes.

Rimple was called into action for the first time in the afternoon inside the 30-minute mark to make a trapping effort. The control of possession and tempo from East Stroudsburg looked to have paid off in the 35th minute after a shot from the Warriors found the back of the net. The goal was disallowed following a whistle from the match officials.

East Stroudsburg continued its pressure in the final third with an angling shot to the bottom right corner that Rimple tremendously punched away before the Huskies' defense cleared a follow-up attempt off the line for the final chance of the half.

After just two shots in the first half, the Bloomsburg attack sought to flip the script in the second. Walsh had his first opportunity of the half amid a scramble following a corner kick. The senior had a go as the shot trickled into the hands of Warriors' goalkeeper Helgi Hermansson. 

In the 56th minute, following a series of headers, Walsh tucked into space just inside the 18-yard box and fired in a shot past the outstretched hand of Hermansson to put the Huskies in front. Bloomsburg continued to build upon its early second-half success with a few more shots on goal but did not find the back of the net.

East Stroudsburg's equalizer came off the heels of great passing plays across the wings. Jose Rosario sent a cross to the back post to the foot of Ignasi Cucurella Tuset before the subsequent pass was headed across goal by Cayetano Diaz to make it 1-1. 

The offensive pressure flipped in favor of East Stroudsburg in the next 10-plus minutes, with Rimple stepping up for another two timely saves. Bloomsburg had its best chance to regain the lead after Blumberger flicked a high-arcing pass to Owen Hollobaugh (State College, Pa./State College) as the sophomore could not square it up and pushed it just over the crossbar in the 79th minute.

Rimple remained locked in through the final 10 minutes for another important two saves as East Stroudsburg received a red card with 30 seconds remaining in the match to not impact the final result.

Numbers of Note:
8 - Rimple put in a phenomenal effort between the sticks by matching a career-high with eight saves.

9 - Wednesday's contest had its fair share of action, with the two teams combining for nine yellow cards, seven of which, including a red card, from the visitors.

On the Horizon: 
The Huskies head to West Chester on Saturday, September 21, for the first road conference matchup of the season at 12:00 p.m. against the Golden Rams.