BOSTON, Mass. – Leading 1-0 entering the second half of play on Saturday afternoon, Mount Ida saw Emmanuel College score two goals and register a 2-1 victory in the first Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's soccer action of the year at Roberto Clemente Field.
The Saints improve to 2-5 overall and 1-0 in the GNAC while the loss drops the Mustangs to 1-3-1 and 0-1 in GNAC action.
Forward Carlos Martinez (Chelsea, Mass.) opened the scoring in the 26th minute of play and gave the Mustangs the lead thanks to a defensive miscue.
The Saints defensive unit passed a ball back to junior goalkeeper Garrett Charette (West Springfield, Mass.) to rebuild and counter but the Mustangs had other ideas as the sophomore Martinez was able to disrupt the keeper's possession. Charette tried to clear the ball but Martinez was able to redirect the clear towards the Saints goal for an easy tap in to make it a 1-0 lead in favor of the visitors.
Emmanuel outshot the Mustangs, 8-4 in the opening stanza but trailed by a goal heading into the halftime intermission.
Just 2:19 into the second half Mount Ida had a chance to add to its lead as the Saints were called for a hard foul in their own 18-yard box resulting in a penalty kick.
Mount Ida junior midfielder Dishawn Miller (Bristol, Conn.) stepped up but his attempt sailed over the crossbar to keep the score at 1-0.
With the miss, the momentum shifted to the hosts as Emmanuel began an offensive assault that began on the next possession as sophomore midfielder David Field (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) tied the score at 1-1 with his second goal of the season. Field buried a shot from 25 yards out to even things up at the 48:14 marker.
Emmanuel continued to keep the pressure on and would strike again with the eventual game-winner in the 56th minute of play. Field was able to find sophomore forward Stefano Sainato (Albany, N.Y.) with a well placed feed at the top of the box. Sainato took two touches towards the goal before burying his second goal of the year to give EC the 2-1 cushion.
The Mustangs had two great chances late in the action to net the equalizer but were unable to find the back of the net on either play. In the 75th minute, junior forward Michael Templeton (Charlestown, N.H.) appeared to have an open net but an Emmanuel defender went into a defensive slide to stop the shot on the goal line. Minutes later, freshman Tyler Grothusen (Ramsey, N.J.) had a shot that sailed just wide of the near post and the Saints were able to hang on for the 2-1 conference victory.
Junior goaltender Mat Pils (Monroe, Conn.) played well in defeat making eight stops for the Mustangs.
Sophomore keeper James Withers (East Taunton, Mass.) relieved Charette at the half and earned the win for Emmanuel, making 1 save while Charette made two in his action.
The win for the Saints marks the first victory over Mount Ida since a 2-1 victory on Sept. 22, 2007.
The Mustangs will return to Alumni Field to host Newbury College on Wednesday (9/18) at 7:00 PM, while Emmanuel is off for the week and resumes play next Saturday (9/21) when they host Johnson & Wales University at 12:00 PM in a GNAC tilt.