STANDISH, Maine – Freshman Rion Dos Santos (São Paulo, Brazil) scored the game-winning goal in the 101st minute to lift Saint Joseph's College (4-1-2, 3-0-0 GNAC) to a 2-1 double-overtime victory over Emmanuel College (5-2-1, 3-1-0 GNAC) at the SJC Athletics Complex on Saturday afternoon.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Emmanuel junior midfielder Alex Erskine (Coventry, Conn.) put the visitors on the board in the 43rd minute with a header past SJC graduate student keeper David Walbridge (Hampden, Mass.). After a turnover at midfield, freshman forward Pedro-Andes Vasquez (Frisco, Texas) pushed the ball down the left side of the field and delivered a perfect feed inside the box to Erskine, who one-timed a header into the left side of then net.
Saint Joseph's maintained steady offensive pressure in the second half and had several excellent scoring chances thwarted by Emmanuel senior keeper Vincent Conelli (West Hartford, Conn.), the Saints' defense, or - at the 71:12 mark - the crossbar, when a Dos Santos strike hit the beam and ricocheted straight down and was cleared out by the opposing defense.
The Monks' efforts finally paid off in the 88th minute, when graduate student Colin Grant (Harvard, Mass.) claimed a corner kick from senior Austin Ward (North Andover, Mass.) and kicked a shot off a defender to the upper left corner.
A scoreless overtime period, filled with back-and-forth action, ensued, but the Monks completed the comeback at the 100:59 mark, when a throw-in by sophomore Aidan Hickey was flicked on by senior Kuma Onyejose (East Greenwich, R.I.) to Dos Santos, who finished with a shot to the left side of the net.
TEAM STATS:
Saint Joseph's held slight advantages in shots (15-14) and shots on goal (6-4) and posted a 9-4 lead in corner kicks on the afternoon.
THE KEEPERS:
Walbridge made three saves in the victory while Conelli turned away four shots in the Saints' setback.
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:
With the triumph, Saint Joseph's improves to 13-3-1 all-time versus Emmanuel College and has now defeated the Saints in seven-consecutive meetings dating back to the 2016 season.
NEXT!
Saint Joseph's will host GNAC-rival Regis College on Wednesday at 7:00 PM.
