STANDISH, Maine – Saint Joseph's College (4-0-0) toppled UMaine-Farmington (2-2-0), 4-0, in non-conference men's soccer action Wednesday evening in what was the first contest ever played at the newly-constructed Saint Joseph's College Athletics Complex.
Saint Joseph's will celebrate the completion of the $5 million lighted turf and track athletics complex with a ceremony on Monday, September 18 at 4:30 PM prior to the Monks' women's soccer contest versus University of Southern Maine, which begins at 6:00 PM.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
After registering several scoring chances early, the Monks finally got on the board in the 18th minute, when junior Brett Mattos (Mahopac, N.Y.) buried a penalty-kick goal after an SJC player was fouled in the box. As it played out, the PK marker proved to be the game-clincher, but the hosts tacked on three additional goals for good measure.
Junior Jesse Ramirez (Dumont, N.J.) scored following a scrum in close proximity off a tipped ball from freshman Noah Elmore (Berlin, Vt.) in the 37th minute to make it a 2-0 game heading into intermission. St. Joe's put the match well out of reach by scoring twice in a matter of two minutes late in the latter frame, as Mattos one-timed a header off a perfectly-placed Cody Elliott (Gorham, Maine) corner kick at the 84:33 mark, and senior Trevor Lopes (Cumberland, R.I.) found a sliver of the net off an odd-angle shot while streaking towards the right post in the 87th minute.
THE KEEPERS:
Saint Joseph's junior Blake Mullen (Manchester, Conn.) made one stop to earn his third shutout of the season and 19th of his career, tying him with former SJC great and current Assistant Coach Will Pike '11.
Despite allowing four goals, UMaine-Farmington senior netminder Matt Wilson (Hamden, Conn.) was outstanding in the setback and made 11 saves, including several on breakaway or odd-man rushes.
TEAM STATS:
Saint Joseph's held considerable leads in shots (37-4), shots on goal (15-1), and corner kicks (13-0) in the victory.
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:
With the result, Saint Joseph's improves to 9-17-4 in the history of the series with UMaine-Farmington and has now defeated the Beavers in seven-consecutive meetings dating back to the 2011 campaign. UMF has not defeated SJC since October 7th, 2006 (1-0 in Farmington).
NEXT!
Saint Joseph's will host Norwich University Saturday in a rematch of the 2016 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) game. Kick-off is slated for 1:00 PM at the Saint Joseph's College Athletics Complex. UMaine-Farmington will host Lyndon State in the team's 2017 North Atlantic Conference (NAC) opener Saturday at 1:30 PM.
#GOMONKS
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Saint Joseph's College is Maine's only Catholic liberal arts college, providing a supportive, personalized and career-focused education for more than 100 years. From its 474-acre campus on the shores of Sebago Lake, the College offers more than 40 undergraduate programs to a population of approximately 1,000 students. Saint Joseph's College Online provides certificates, undergraduate and advanced degrees for working adults through an online learning program. For more, visit www.sjcme.edu.