The Mount Ida College men's soccer team gave up three unanswered goals in the final 11 minutes of the contest dropping their season home opener 3-1 to visiting non-conference Massachusetts Maritime Academy Wednesday afternoon on an abnormally hot September day in Newton, Massachusetts. The Mustangs fall to 0-1 kicking off 2010 while the Buccaneers improve to 1-0.
After a very quiet first half with only a handful of opportunities on either side, the Mustangs struck first seven and a half minutes into the second stanza. A foul inside the top left corner of the box by the Buccaneers would send senior Hermes Lima (Boston, MA/West Roxbury) to the penalty shot circle. Lima converted the free kick netting the first goal of the 2010 season for Mount Ida at the 52nd minute to lead 1-0.
The action was fairly quiet for the bulk of the second half and looked as if the Mustangs might ride home a season opener non-conference victory. The visitors never gave in and eventually answered back in the 79th minute of the contest on a bounding ball in front on the net that was poked in by Buccaneer senior Jon White (Lynnfield, MA/Lynnfield) on a feed from senior Kyle Sheehan (Bridgewater, MA/Bridgewater-Raynham) making it 1-1.
Not even two minutes later MMA followed up with another score, this time on a cross in front of the net that was blasted into the left corner by sophomore Derek Young (Falmouth, MA/Falmouth) on a dish from senior Kevin McCord (Norwell, MA/Norwell) for the instant 2-1 advantage.
The visitors eventually added one more score less than a minute later on a well placed pass from McCord to the foot of junior James Gendrolis (Weymouth, MA/Weymouth) who was wide open in front of the net popping it in for the 3-1 lead with a little over 10 minutes to go in the contest.
All the wind was sucked out of the Mustangs sails at this point while the Buccaneers cruised to the 3-1 victory. Although the hosts outshot their opponents nearly double (21-11), the Mustangs could not get over the shock factor of the impromptu MMA comeback.
Mount Ida College goalkeeper, junior Steven Enright (South Kingston, RI/Prout), played well denying three Bucs shots while MMA keeper freshman Brett Young (Falmouth, MA/Falmouth) was also outstanding making 11 saves.
The Mustangs will host non-conference Lesley University this coming Sunday at 2:00 p.m. in the back end of a doubleheader with the women's soccer team who play first starting at 12:00 p.m. The Buccaneers will travel to the Coast Guard Academy Friday night for a 6:00 p.m. start.