LIU football squanders two-touchdown lead in homecoming loss to Sacred Heart

LIU's football team had plenty of momentum heading into its home opener on Saturday afternoon after recording its first victory over a FBS program last weekend. Unfortunately for the Sharks, they couldn't build on it.

LIU squandered a two-touchdown lead before falling to Sacred Heart University in heartbreaking fashion, 24-21. Sacred Heart capped the comeback when Matt Kling hit a 21-year field goal as time expired to sink the Sharks.

LIU took a 21-7 lead with 11:24 left in the third quarter, but Sacred Heart scored the final 17 points. 

Coach Ron Cooper said he knew it would be a tough game, especially after the team's attention-getting win over Eastern Michigan last week.

“In the tight games like this, which I knew it was going to be, we told our team that no matter what happened in the last week, all we did was put a bullseye [on us],” Cooper said. “We were going to get everybody’s best shot, so we got their best shot and we didn’t respond.”

LIU couldn’t have drawn up a better opening series. On the first play from scrimmage, redshirt junior quarterback Luca Stanzani kept a read option and took it 75 yards for a touchdown to put the Sharks up 7-0.

Stanzani, the reigning Northeast Conference Offensive Player of the Week, finished with 87 rushing yards and went 2-for-4 passing for nine yards. 

Stanzini left with an undisclosed injury midway through the third quarter and was replaced by redshirt sophomore Chris Howell. Ethan Greenwood shared quarterback duties with Stanzini in the first two games, but the former Kellenberg quarterback missed Saturday's game with an injury.

“Luca actually played well," Cooper said. "I wish he wouldn’t have gotten injured. I’m glad we have the third quarterback here at least, but I knew with Ethan -- we had to do it with Luca and use Chris a little, then Luca goes down -- we had to switch some things up. I knew it was going to be a close game after that.”

Junior running back O’Shawn Ross Jr. was another bright spot for the Sharks (1-2). The Arkansas Pine-Bluff transfer had 82 rushing yards and a touchdown on 16 carries

“He gave us toughness and size at running back,” Cooper said. “We knew he had the ability.”

The Sharks defense was led by Jalen Bell, who made 11 tackles, and linebacker Rafael Fasolino, who finished with seven but also had to leave the game with a knee injury. 

“He loves to play the game, he’s always got juice, he’s always excited, he plays so hard, he does everything very conscientiously,” Cooper said of Fasolino.

Despite the loss, Cooper was encouraged by local support one week after a huge road victory. 

“We had a great crowd, probably the best crowd we’ve had since I’ve been here,” Cooper said. "I wish we could’ve found a way to win the game for them.”