GARDEN CITY, N.Y. – The sixth-ranked LIU Post men's soccer team dropped a tightly-contested opening matchup at Motamed Field Thursday evening against No. 13 Adelphi University, 2-1.
 
Thursday's top-15 matchup featured all the scoring during the opening 19 minutes of action, as the Panthers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the 15th minute behind strikes by Stephen Megaloudis and Taylor Kaczynski. Kaczynski set up the opening goal on a counter-attack down the right flank, sending a low cross to Megaloudis for the season's opening goal for Adelphi in the eighth minute.
 
Seven minutes later, the Panthers threatened again when Paolo Marciano fired a strike that Oliver Hessner Hansen initially stopped as the first of four saves on the evening for the senior goalkeeper. Hansen was unable to control the rebound, however, and Kaczynski was rewarded for his unselfish play moments earlier when he deposited the rebound to double the Panther lead.
 
Momentum was halted for Adelphi quickly as the Green and Gold got on the board during the 19th minute when senior Vittorio Argeri found graduate student Lukas Ostermann in the box for the first Pioneer goal of the season. Freshman Anton Ocampo continued to build pressure for LIU Post, finding space for two shots during the next five minutes, but was turned aside by Adelphi's Matt Apicella who made six saves in total. Argeri found the target with a shot that led to a corner kick, but Apicella again turned away an attempt by junior Kyle Parish to shield the flurry of jabs thrown by the Pioneers.
 
Ostermann had two cracks on frame late in the half but was unable to find the back of the net for the second time and LIU Post entered the locker room trailing 2-1 with 45 minutes remaining.
 
The opening 20 minutes of the second stanza was a battle of possession with just two shots attempted by the Panthers. Ostermann gave the Pioneers a great chance to draw level with Adelphi during the 69th minute, shielding a defender and firing a right-footed shot from a hard angle inside the box but Apicella denied him once again. The Adelphi keeper collected his final save of the evening on an attempt by Argeri in the 87th minute to help the Panthers hang on for the one-goal victory.
 
The Pioneers drop to 0-1 on the season in the debut of head coach Michael Mordocco while Adelphi improves to 1-0 in the debut for first-year head coach Gary Book.
 
The Pioneers return to action on Saturday, Sept. 1 in their final contest of the Adelphi Alumni Tournament when they face American International College at 3:00 p.m.