NEWTON, Mass. – Mount Ida collected their sixth shutout of the year with a 2-0 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) win on Monday afternoon, while doing something no other team has been able to this year – defeat Johnson and Wales University in a men's soccer contest.
The Mustangs (6-5-1, 3-2-1 GNAC) beat the Wildcats for the first time since the two teams first met in 2008, and stopped a Johnson & Wales team that was unbeaten in their first thirteen games (10-1-3, 3-1-2 GNAC) this season.
More importantly, they picked up an important victory that helps them stay positioned for a GNAC tournament spot.
"The goal all season is to take one game at a time, and the fact that they were undefeated, is just that they were the team that was here today," said fourth year Head Coach Joe Campbell. "In the grand scheme of things, it's just an important win in the GNAC."
Junior goalie Mat Pils (Monroe, Conn.) earned his fifth clean sheet of the year, but it was not an easy task, as he faced 19 Johnson & Wales shots, nine of them on target. Pils made the stop on all nine attempts, including a brilliant double-save to rob both Kyle Metz (St. James, N.Y.) and O'kyle corridon (Selden, N.Y.) from point-blank range in the 63rd minute.
"Mat is one of the best goalkeepers in the GNAC, and he responds well to being challenged," said Campbell. "He went out today and proved that he's got a lot to bring to this team, and those two saves were absolutely marvelous."
Dakota Howell (Mesa, Ariz.) scored his first NCAA goal in the 38th minute, when he rose up to get his head to a corner from the boot of senior Tim Gil (Lowell, Mass.). Howell, the 6-6 transfer defender, brilliantly nodded the ball high into the top corner of the net, above the reach of Wildcats goalie Ryan Dzierawski (Oakland, Mich.).
Gil earned his first points of the season with the assist.
The Mustangs doubled their advantage just twenty seconds after halftime with a penalty kick that Elias Mejia (Freehold, N.J.) converted for his first goal of the year.
Johnson & Wales got two saves from Dzierawski and played an attack-minded second half, in which they outshot the Mustangs 12-4, led by a combined eleven shots from Metz and Corridon, but Pils and the Mount Ida defense were stalwart.
"We talk all season about opportunities and taking them, and today we took the opportunity to beat a team that was undefeated. The fact that we haven't beaten them in a few years is really nice, and to get the shutout makes me the most happy," said Campbell. "GNAC points are huge, and we've been knocking on the door for a few weeks, looking for some consistency. This win gives us some confidence that we can play with the best teams in the league."
The Mustangs hit the road now for their next two GNAC matches, which start next Saturday at 2:00 PM when they are in Boston to play Suffolk University.
The Wildcats will look to bounce back with a home game against Saint Joseph's (ME) at 3:30 on the same date.