STANDISH, Maine – Saint Joseph's College (5-3-1, 4-1-0 GNAC) defeated Elms College (2-7-0, 0-4-0 GNAC), 4-1, in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's soccer action at the SJC Athletics Complex on Wednesday night.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Monks got on the board just 95 seconds into the game when grad student Austin Ward (Exeter, N.H.) netted his third goal of the season. Sophomore Rion Dos Santos (São Paulo, Brazil) set up the score with a slick right-to-left crossing pass in the box while speeding past an Elms defender in the right corner.
The Blazers managed to keep the Monks at bay until the 62nd minute when Ward converted a penalty kick for his second goal of the evening. Freshman Ethan Emata (Nashua, N.H.) made it a 3-0 game with his first NCAA goal just 47 seconds later on what was basically a carbon copy play of the contest's first tally. Junior Will Wood (Franklin, N.H.) set up the score with a great hustle play down the right sideline and delivered the crossing pass into the box.
Elms cut the hosts' lead to 3-1 at the 72:47 timestamp when Musa Jiana (Chicopee, Mass.) hit pay dirt on a PK attempt, but St. Joe's iced the victory when freshman Henry Wylde (Perth, Western Australia) scored his first collegiate goal off a Nate Sottak (Belmont, N.H.) pass with 26 seconds left to play.
TEAM STATS:
The Monks dominated the stat sheet with advantages in shots (36-4), shots on goal (20-3), and corner kicks (3-0) on the evening.
THE KEEPERS:
SJC senior Mike Sheridan (Folsom, Pa.) turned away the only two shots he faced to pick up the win after logging just under 71 minutes while sophomore Liam Foley (Middleton, Mass.) allowed the PK goal in 19 minutes of relief duty.
Elms senior keeper Collin Liedke (Newington, Conn.) played very well with 15 saves – including several diving stops – in the losing effort.
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:
With the win, St. Joe's improves to 2-1 all-time versus Elms College.
NEXT!
Saint Joseph's will host University of Saint Joseph on Saturday at 4:30 PM.
