STANDISH, Maine – Junior midfielder Icaro Vieira (Westborough, Mass.) scored a pair of goals to help lift Saint Joseph's College (4-2-1, 2-0-0 GNAC) past Anna Maria College (0-4-1, 0-1-1 GNAC), 4-0, in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's soccer action at the SJC Athletics Complex on Wednesday evening.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Vieira opened the scoring in the sixth minute when he collected a perfect lead pass from Austin Ward (Exeter, N.H.) in the box and chipped a shot over the head of Anna Maria keeper Valter Santiago (Norwood, Mass.).
Vieira netted his second goal of the night off a long volley from grad student defender Michael Wildes (Winslow, Maine) at the 26:50 mark. With a kick from about 40 yards out on the right side, Wildes put the ball in the box with a kick that was headed by an AMCAT defender and found the foot of Vieira, who tapped a shot into the lower right corner.
The Monks continued to apply strong offensive pressure and forced a turnover deep in the Anna Maria end, which resulted in hosts taking a three-goal lead on a Gracien Mukwa (Portland, Maine) tally. On a failed clearing attempt, Mukwa gathered a loose ball near the top of the box and unleashed a rocket into the top right corner in the 40th minute to give the Royal Blue a 3-0 lead heading into intermission.
Sophomore Griffin Cooney (Port Orange, Fla.) set up the Monks' final score with a long pass down the right sideline. Mukwa collected the lengthy feed, turned towards the net, and delivered a crossing pass to grad student Jackson Fotter (Gorham, Maine), who tapped the ball into an open net.
TEAM STATS:
Saint Joseph's held the lead in shots (25-7), shots on goal (11-1), and corner kicks (3-2) in the conference victory.
THE KEEPERS:
SJC senior starter Mike Sheridan (Folsom, Pa.) made one save in 64 minutes of play while sophomore Liam Foley (Middleton, Mass.) was untested in 26 minutes of relief duty. Santiago turned away seven shots in the losing effort.
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:
With the victory, Saint Joseph's improves to 11-0-0 in the history of the series with Anna Maria College. The Monks have outscored the AMCATS by a 37-2 collective margin in the 11-game set.
NEXT!
Saint Joseph's will play at Johnson & Wales University on Saturday at 1:00 PM.
