STANDISH, Maine - #19 Saint Joseph's College (3-0-1) blanked University of Southern Maine (0-4-1), 3-0, in a non-conference men's soccer contest at the SJC Athletics Complex on Monday evening.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Monks controlled the pace of play for the better part of the game and had several chances to strike before grabbing a 1-0 edge on a Jackson Taylor (Gorham, Maine) goal in the 38th minute. Sophomore Austin Ward (North Andover, Mass.) dribbled around several USM defenders in the top left corner and dealt a perfect pass to Taylor, who streaked into the box and booted the ball into the right side of the net.
The hosts doubled their lead in the 51st minute when senior Noah Robinson (Wappingers Falls, N.Y.) redirected a shot off the foot of Cody Elliott (Gorham, Maine) with a header into the right panel of the goal.
St. Joe's capped the game scoring at the 78 minute mark, when Ward hit pay dirt off a well-placed lead pass from senior Mitchell Duncan (Sanford, Maine). Possessing the ball in traffic, Duncan found an open lane to feed Ward, who broke free for a 1v1 with USM keeper Cameron Atherton (New Milford, Conn.) and slipped a grounder to the right side.
THE KEEPERS:
Saint Joseph's junior David Walbridge (Hampden, Mass.) turned away the only shot he faced to notch his second shutout of the season while Atherton made five stops in a losing bid for the Huskies.
TEAM STATS:
Saint Joseph's held leads in shots (14-3) and shots on goal (8-1) on the evening.
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:
With the victory Saint Joseph's improves to 14-12-4 all-time versus University of Southern Maine and has now defeated the Huskies in four-consecutive meetings.
NEXT!
Saint Joseph's opens Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) play Saturday with a much-anticipated home game versus Norwich University. Opening kickoff is slated for 1:30 PM.
