Sophomore Hayato Kanesaka (Old Tappen, NJ/Northern Valley) netted the go ahead goal in the 80th minute giving the Mount Ida College men's soccer team the 2-1 victory over visiting St. Joseph's College (ME) this Wednesday afternoon. The Mustangs, who will take over sole possession of third place in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) with this win, improve to 7-4-3 overall and 4-2-0 in GNAC play. The Monks drop down to fourth place in the GNAC with a record of 6-4-3, 3-2-1 in the conference.
Mount Ida struck first off a crazy corner kick by sophomore Billy Beauzile (Brooklyn, NY/Samuel J. Tilden). In the 23rd minute, Beauzile curved a ball into the box while Monks goalkeeper Will Pike (Gorham, ME/Gorham) attempted to make the save. Unfortunately for the visitors, Pike caught the ball inside the net and over the goal line. The crowd was silent waiting for the call while the head referee blew his whistle and signaled that the ball had crossed the line for the 1-0 Mount Ida lead.
St. Joe's would have a chance of their own off a flicked pass to junior Doug MacCallum (Hingham, MA/Hingham) who hammered a shot past the dive of Mustang goaltender Brian Leighton (Turner, ME/Leavitt Area). In another unfortunate incident for the Monks, the line official had his flag in the air signaling an offside on the visitors calling the goal back. The Mustangs took the 1-0 advantage into the break.
In the 50th minute in the opening of the second half, St. Joe's netted a score on an unlucky break for the hosts. Mount Ida defender Carmelo Bello (Rocky Hill, CT/Rocky Hill/Manchester) slipped going for a loose ball that was scooped up by Monks freshman Michael Sanfilippo (Walpole, MA/Walpole) who headed down an open field. He quickly fed striker MacCallum who hammered a shot past the dive of Leighton knotting the game at 1-1.
Just when the game sniffed overtime, the Mustangs wafted away the stench. Kanesaka, who had just been re-inserted into the action after being injured, struck gold on a bounding ball in the box. Senior captain Brandon Chuba (Wallingford, CT/Mark T. Sheehan) fed a corner kick into the middle that was squirting around. Finally, after the visitors tried clearing it out of the zone, senior Matt Gill (Winfield, KS/Winfield/Garden City C.C.) tapped a quick pass for Kanesaka to pound into the bottom left corner of the net for the 2-1 outright advantage and eventually the victory, their fourth GNAC win of the season for Mount Ida.
The Mustangs, who outshot the Monk 20-14, kept their composure in a very physical game where there was a combined 39 fouls, 24 by the visitors and 15 by the hosts. Leighton, who made a couple of outstanding late saves, denied four balls for Mount Ida while Pike saved five for St. Joe's. There were three cautions distributed between the teams throughout the contest.
The Mustangs will head to GNAC rival and neighboring institution Lasell College this coming Saturday for another conference battle starting at 2:30 p.m.